Microsoft and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have recently announced the winners of a technology contest for students in Vietnam.

The awards ceremony of the “Imagine Cup” competition took place at the American Center in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday and saw the participation of hundreds of Vietnamese students.

The first prize in the World Citizenship category, aimed at solving the world’s toughest problems in different fields such as health, business, education, and environment, went to The Better We with the Medifree project which offers those in need second-hand medical devices.

In the Innovation category, Atasow team won the first prize thanks to their innovative SoundHub product, an application which can easily be installed and run on mobile devices to replace complex, cumbersome sound systems.

There was only one prize in the Game category which was awarded to Bee, a team of four students who created a racing game called G.E.A.R with many new, special, and innovative features. The category required participants to make great games with the best creative ideas.

All winners will take part in the World Semifinals round, to be held in San Francisco on April 23. The final round will be organized in Seattle in July 2015.

Two other second prizes were given to Metronome team in the World Citizenship category and Sphoton team in the Innovative category, respectively.

“Imagine Cup,” launched by Microsoft, is the world's premier student technology competition.

In Vietnam, it was jointly organized by Microsoft and USAID.

Competing teams were composed of students and mentors who advised them on their project. All contestants had to be above 16 years old and currently enrolled in schools.

The first round lasted from November 2014 to February 2015, receiving a total of 127 entries. There were 26 entries entering the second round which took place from February to March 2015.

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