Justin Meisingerf reports from IDG News Service, Boston.

Microsoft held its Imagine Cup World finals Warsaw, Poland in the first week of July. The program, now in it’s eighth year, encourages high school and university students around the world to develop software aiming to solve global problems. Team Skeek from Thailand won in Software Design for its project to translate text to sign language. The software uses speech and facial recognition to perform translations in real time.

“You kinda freak out at the first time they call your name. And we never expected the result to be the winner.”

SmarterME from Taiwan won in Embedded Development with a device that targets a home’s biggest energy users. Homeowners can glance at the application, which tracks the appliances that use the most power and raise the electric bill. By Implication from the Philippines won in Game Design for a game that uses an Xbox 360 controller and social media to help get young people interested in volunteering. Players can battle the world’s biggest problems, including poverty and environmental degradation.

“This is your character. You send people in to work on the tasks and you talk to people and make them aware of the problems.” After distributing prizes nearing a quarter million dollars, Microsoft announced that all 400 participants would receive vouchers for a Windows 7 phone.

Next year’s Imagine Cup will be held in New York.