“Traditio et Innovatio”--this is the motto of the University of Rostock that not only led through the day but also through the history of computer graphics research. Once merely a niche subject, today it is a fundamental part of research, work and life. In his acceptance speech, Prof. Fellner expressed how, as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD, he especially relished the challenges that applied research entails. In looking back, he was grateful above all for the mentors, colleagues, students and associates who shaped his time at various universities and at Fraunhofer.

Half a century ago, the academic field of digital graphics was established in the Mathematics Department at the University of Rostock. This made Rostock one of the first universities in Germany to institutionalize computer graphics as its own field of research. This led to the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Rostock 15 years later and 20 years later to the Rostock location of the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD.