21 Teams in the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals

The first set of finalists in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2011 was announced Sunday night, with no less than 21 teams from around the world moving onward in the final round of the competition.

The finalists have certainly come a long way since the debut of this’s years Imagine Cup, with in excess of 350,000 students entering the Redmond company’s technology competition.

According to the software giant, six Software Design teams, just as many Embedded Development teams and nine Game Design teams will have a shot at proving their worth in the final round.

“You have to find something that you can put yourself into – heart, body and soul,” Microsoft Chief Executive officer Steve Ballmer said. “It doesn't matter who you are in this business, there’s no substitute for really being tenacious and keeping after (the) ideas that you are really passionate about.”

Make sure to check out the list included at the bottom of this article in order to get info on the teams that moved on in the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals.

There are two Romanian teams among the finalists, Simplex and Endeavour_Design.

Simplex’s members Alina Călin, Andrei Cantea, Andrei Dascălu, Cosmin Mihaiu (mentored by Dr. Dan Suciu) developed MIRA (Medical Interactive Recovery Assistant) leveraging the Kinect sensor for patient rehabilitation through kinesiotherapy.

Here is a list with the Imagine Cup 2011 finalist teams:

Software Design

■ China, Care Everyone
■ Ireland, Team Hermes
■ Jordan, OaSys
■ New Zealand, OneBuzz
■ Romania, SIMPLEX
■ United States, Team Note-Taker

Embedded Development

■ Brazil, Embedded Brain
■ China, Harmonicare
■ France, Give Me 4
■ Romania, Endeavour_Design
■ Taiwan, NTHUCS
■ United Kingdom, Cycling into trees

Game Design – Mobile

■ France, Close World Mobile
■ France, Geekologic
■ US, Team Dragon

Game Design – Web

■ Philippines, Signum Fidei
■ Poland, Cellardoor
■ Slovakia, Quegee Team

Game Design – XNA/Windows

■ Brazil, Signum Games
■ Czech Republic, WickedTeam
■ Thailand, JubJub Team