Young talents are the first resource for innovative development, and postdoctoral talents are the "top-tier" talent among the youth. At Dawn, the core elements of the company's guiding ideology are "Building Seven High-Ends and implementing Four-Cores," and the impressive achievements of Dawn Group's postdoctoral research workstations are a microcosm of the company's commitment to "going high-ends and implementing the cores."

On September 18th, the award ceremony of the 2023 China·Shandong Postdoctoral Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province. Hao Yanping, a postdoctoral fellow from Dawn Group, stood on the podium. The project "Development and Application of Fully Biodegradable Mulching Film Materials" she hosted won the bronze medal in the innovation competition. It was reported that it was the only award-winning postdoctoral workstation project in Longkou City.

Haoyanping is a postdoctoral researcher at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She joined the Dawn Group's postdoctoral research workstation in September 2020, and mainly focused on the modification R&D and industrial application of biodegradable materials. By developing biodegradable polylactic acid foaming materials to replace some non-degradable materials, her work has significant economic and strategic importance in terms of environmental and resource conservation and high market application value.

"In the past two years, we have successively developed a series of modified products, including biodegradable meal boxes, straws, film bags, and more. They have been industrially produced within Dawn, which brings significant economic benefits. Since starting our research, my team and I have applied for and obtained 24 patents, published four SCI papers, and all these achievements would not be possible without the support of the postdoctoral research workstation," said Haoyanping.

  "Seven high-ends", namely building a high-end platform, gathering high-end talents, creating high-end products, developing high-end customers, promoting high-end cooperation, entering high-end fields, and pursuing high-end development. The postdoctoral research workstation is one of the high-end research platforms established by Dawn. In this field, the talent chain, entrepreneurship chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and policy chain are intertwined, and innovation elements are fully flowing. A technical research team, composed of experts and internal technical mentors, supports the scientific research conducted by postdoctoral researchers, achieving a dual purpose of both generating outcomes and nurturing the talent pool.

"We provide excellent office and research environments for postdoctoral research, actively establish technical exchange platforms, promote academic discussions and collaboration among postdocs, and facilitate smooth progress in their research," says Mr. Tian Hongchi, the General Manager of Dawn Polymer and a foreign academician of Ukrainian Academy of Engineering Science. As a collaborative mentor, he has guided seven postdoctoral researchers in their research work. The "teacher-apprentice" approach promotes the integration of industry, academia, and research, helping postdoctorals tackle challenging issues.

Liu Lili, Vice President of Dawn Group, stated, "We offer generous remuneration  packages to relieve postdocs from worries, allowing them to focus solely on their research. In addition, the company also provides a green channel for postdocs working at the station to receive exceptional promotions to boost them grow into top talents and backbones in the field of science and technology."

"We apply for national and provincial postdoctoral funding projects, as well as the 'Boxin' plan every year. In the past two years, our biodegradable materials project has received government support of CNY 4.5 million, which greatly supported the smooth progress of our project," said Hao Yanping. She mentioned that the governments at three levels – Shandong Province, Yantai City, and Longkou City – had provided her with living subsidies. These policies made her feel the sincerity of Shandong Province in attracting talent and inspired her enthusiasm for job-based innovation and creation.

According to reports, since its establishment 10 years ago, the Dawn Group Postdoctoral Research Workstation has participated in many scientific research and innovation projects at the national, provincial and ministerial levels, Yantai City, etc. and the formulation of national industry standards. It has applied for 39 invention patents and published more than 70 papers. The workstation was honored with the Shandong Province Science and Technology Progress Award and was selected into the provincial and ministerial level talent project.

Innovation relies on acquiring the right people. Postdoctoral talents serve as the driving force for companies to conquer technical challenges and achieve technological independence and self-improvement. Vice President Liu Lili stated that postdoctoral researchers have demonstrated a high degree of specialization and autonomy in their research work, excelling in aspects like project design and data analysis. "They are able to proactively propose new research problems and solutions, and maintain close cooperative relationships with mentors and team members to jointly promote the progress of the project and make important contributions to the Dawn Group's scientific research work and industry technological progress."

The "Four Cores" refer to core products, core teams, core customers, and core competitiveness. In the future, Dawn Group will continue to focus on the postdoctoral development model of "laid foundation and platform, building nests to attract phoenixes", practice the business philosophy of "product-based, people-oriented, technology-led, customer-first", cultivate talents in the practice of industrial technological innovation, provide a stage for more outstanding postdoctoral fellows to show their talents, create greater value for customers, and contribute more wisdom and strength to promote economic and social development