Dr Alwis has played a very active and broad role in promoting education, innovation and creativity in Singapore for more than 20 years and has been actively involved in creating and implementing enrichment programmes for primary and secondary schools and junior colleges. He was a key member of the organising committee of the Science Research Programme, jointly organised by the NUS Faculty of Science and the MOE Gifted Education Unit (later Branch), from 1990 until 2002.

Dr Alwis was a member of the pro-tem committee that formed the Innovators Club in 1994 and has actively driven the club while holding key positions in the executive committee over the years and assisted in transforming the club to its present form, the Innovators and Entrepreneurs Association (IdEA), in addition to being a member of the organising committee of the Creativity Forum, which has been organising annual conferences since 2001 to promote the unity of creative endeavour in arts science and technology.

The criteria for the award are given below:

Contributions :
The nominee should have made contributions which have resulted in an overall improvement of the statutory board or his department.

Other attributes :
In addition, the nominee should have demonstrated:-
· dedication, enthusiasm and commitment to his work;
· an ability to promote team work and team spirit at his level;
· a continuous effort to upgrade his professional knowledge and skills; and
· the capability to maintain output at an exemplary level and of high quality.