TKKYIA was first mooted by Nobel Laureate Professor C.N. Yang in May 1986. Professor Yang, who is Tan Kah Kee Foundation's advisor and mentor, observed that Asian students including Singapore students were good at learning but lacked originality in scientific research. He thus proposed an award for invention that would encourage people to think and to invent things that would bring economic benefit to the country.

There are five sections that cater to different interests and levels of inventors, namely the, Junior Student section, Student section, Senior Student section, Open section and Defence Science section. The Junior and Senior Student sections are set up with effect from TKKYIA2008 and TKKYIA2009 respectively to encourage more participation from students of different age groups.

The award seeks to stimulate creativity among the young generation and to promote scientific and technological research in Singapore. By organising the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award as an annual event, the Award Committee aims to achieve the following goals:

• to encourage our youths to use their knowledge and skills imaginatively and with daring innovation;
• to stimulate creativity among our youths and promote scientific and technological research in the country;
• to contribute to our talent pool;
• to inspire our youths to constantly think of new and creative ways of solving problems;
• to inculcate in our youths an innovative approach to their studies and life.

In the initial years, Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award organized the Open section and the Student section in alternate years. In 1995, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), known as NSTB then, joined in as a partner and with this support, the Award began to hold both the Open and the Student sections annually from 1996.

In 2001, the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) participated as a co-organiser and established the special Defence Science section. The Defence Science section aims to promote greater interest in defence science and technology among Singapore's youth, and to raise their awareness the importance of harnessing science and technology to enhance Singapore's defence and security. DSO National Laboratories joined in the collaboration with effect from TKKYIA2011 to further strength the support for the Defence Science section. More details of priority areas in defence R&D can be found at www.ydsp.sg/tkkyia. The list is not meant to be exhaustive but it does serve to guide the focus of the type of problems that the judges would consider to come under this section.

For the past few years, Singapore Science Centre has been continuously supporting the event by hosting the exhibition of the winning projects.

The Foundation launched in 2002 the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award (Shanghai). This is a great opportunity for the Tan Kah Kee Foundation to extend our collaboration into the region with the major universities in Shanghai. The participants include students and staff from both universities and high schools in Shanghai

Behind the scene of the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award are a group of committee members consisting of representatives from A*STAR, DSTA, Singapore Science Centre, and voluntary professionals from academia institutions, R&D organizations and industry practitioners. They are actively involved in organizing the Award as well as in providing their expertise in the evaluation of the invention projects. The Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award Committee is spearheaded by Professor K K Phua, Chairman of the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, and Dr Low Hwee Boon, former Principal Scientist of the Institute of Infocomm Research as the co-chairman.