Welcome Address by the Executive Chairman of the ICGG2018

With profound sentiments of honor and happiness, as Executive Chairman of the ICGG2018, I address my warmest welcome to all the participants of The 18th International Conference on Geometry and Graphics, on the special occasion of the celebrations of its 40th anniversary in Milano! This edition is held in Italy at the Politecnico di Milano and here granted and organized at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DASTU) under the auspices of the International Society for Geometry and Graphics (ISGG), financially supported by the aforementioned institutions, together with the Japanese Society for Graphics Science (JSGS), the School of Architecture Urbans Planning Construction Engineering (AUIC), the Department of Mathematics of the Politecnico di Milano (DIMAT), the Postgraduate Program BIM Courses (DASTU), and other generous sponsors listed on the ICGG2018 webpage http://www.icgg2018.polimi.it. The conference has also obtained the patronage of the Unione Italiana per il Disegno (UID) and the following Italian patrons: Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere; Istituto di Studi Superiori dell’Insubria Gerolamo Cardano; Fondazione Fratelli Confalonieri; Associazione Guido Ucelli Amici del Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci. As a significant symbolic link to its origins, and as a good wish for the 40th anniversary, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Engineering Design Graphics Division (EDGD) of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), which respectively organized and sponsored the fist edition in 1978, have also honored us with their patronage. Patrons and Sponsors are listed by active links to the corresponding websites on a dedicated section of the ICGG2018 webpage www.icgg2018.polimi.it. Personally speaking, the responsibility of undertaking the organization of such an important event will be part of the unforgettable records of my academic career, as well as a private memory. I wish that something of this feeling could also pervade our welcome participants, delegates and accompanying persons. When at the 17thICGG in Beijing, at the beginning of August 2016, quite unexpectedly the events started moving in the direction of a Conference in Europe again in 2018, and namely in Italy at the Politecnico di Milano, it was clear that the time to organize the event was much shorter than usual, and in addition the upcoming 40th anniversary would increase our concern. On the other hand some occurrences of numbers and coincidences -a kind of kabbalah as we liked to say- seemed to encourage us: indeed, eighteenth edition would have been in two thousand and eighteen, the 40th anniversary would be in the 20th from my first attendance in 1998 at the Austin Conference, the last with the old name ICECGDG and in turn celebrating then the 20th anniversary from the Vancouver’s edition in 1978, which again coincided with an anniversary, namely the 50th of the American Society for Engineering Education. The proposal was immediately supported by the Head of the Department DASTU, with the agreement of the Rector of the Politecnico di Milano. Finally, although it was not possible to announce the Venue of the 2018 meeting at the closing ceremony in Beijing; thanks to the support of the Politecnico di Milano and the guidance of ISGG, the generous engagement of Chairs and Co-Chairs, Members of Steering and Program Committees, as well as to the special dedication of some members of our Local Organizing Board and Staff, and students, the Conference was scheduled and organized, and it ended up being one of the greatest participation in the series. My heartfelt thanks go to all the individuals and institutions contributing to make this result possible. Some names need to be mentioned. From the ISGG, Hans-Peter Schröcker, member of the Board of Regents organizing with Manfred Husty the 16thICGG in Innsbruck, especially for the initial detailed recommendations and advice, and Hirotaka Suzuki, ISGG treasurer and organizer of the 14thICGG in Kyoto, for visiting in advance our Conference Venue. Here in Milano, in my University, I cite Pierfranco Galliani, to whom no words would suffice for diverse appropriate advice on every aspect of the Conference; Dario Angelo Maria Coronelli, Luisa Rossi Costa, and Damiano Cosimo Iacobone, for the help on the program; Federico Alberto Brunetti for movies and photographs; Susanna Sancassani and Bruno Aliprandi for the support on the online services; Mascia Sgarlata and Cristina Giannetto for the relations with institutions and services; Gloria Paoluzzi, Giuseppe Piampiano and Gianluca Ferrante for the administrative issues. And many others, including colleagues, students, and friends could be mentioned for their kind encouragement and help. On the private side my grateful thoughts go to my wife Francesca Scherillo, for her lovely patience, her constant wise presence, and help. At the Austin’s Conference in 1998, just after my PhD, I was the only Italian delegate. I met there, for the first time, Hellmuth Stachel, Kenjiro Suzuki, and Guner Weiss, who have since then been key reference persons in the process of fostering the international relationships between the Italian scientific community and the ISGG. Over time, the number of the Italian participants has gradually increased, until becoming the highest one after those of the organizing countries in the last two editions, and the highest in this edition. The engagement of the Unione Italiana per il Disegno (UID) and the personal commitment of the president in office Vito Cardone in front of the Italian academic community have been crucial in this process, during which also the affiliation of the UID as an institutional member of the ISGG, between 2013 and 2014, could be finally possible. In this period I had the great privilege –and I still have it today- to be member, at the same time, of the Board of Regents of the ISGG and of the Commission for the International Relationships of the UID. The present Conference is held at the Politecnico di Milano, at the Leonardo Campus, the main historical district of our University, where participants attend the technical sessions and most of the plenaries, and can also relax in the gardens and public spaces of the Campus, which is in the urban area of Città Studi and Lambrate. The Opening Ceremony at the Triennale di Milano and the Closing Ceremony at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci”, involve two relevant cultural institutions of our City, both located in the city center, where participants can enjoy masterpieces of Modern Art and History of Science and Technique. According to the Conference focus, 7 Invited Speaker of high scientific profile coming from various disciplinary fields related to Geometry and Graphics will open and close the scheduled working sessions. Several plenary sessions are also scheduled, including poster sessions, round tables with the session-chairs, a panel session, and of course opening and closing ceremony, aiming at further stimulating the scientific cross fertilization in our international community during the Conference days. The annual meeting of the ICGG Board of Regents is also part of the official program. More than 280 scientific contributions have been submitted to the review, by about 450 authors from 43 Countries of the Five Continents, concerning Geometry and Graphics in several disciplinary fields, about 80% of them are published on the Proceedings, grouped according to the following ICGG2018 topics: Theoretical Graphics, Applied Geometry and Graphics, Engineering Computer Graphics, Graphics Education, and Geometry and Graphics in History, a new topic added for this edition. As in our Conference tradition, a welcoming party, a conference dinner, a conference tour and accompanying persons’ tours are also organized, including a leave taking snack at the end of the closing ceremony. As also the Conference Logo tries to synthesize, we liked to dedicate this conference to Leonardo Da Vinci, after whom our Campus is named and to whom we would pay homage as a genius among the greatest showing the widest power of Geometry and Graphics in investigation and creativity between Science and Art, and to Giulio Natta, professor at the Politecnico di Milano and Nobel prizewinner for Chemistry in 1963, together with Karl Ziegler, as a mentor on the profound function - and beauty! - of Geometry and Graphics in Science and Technology, even at the invisible scale of the molecular world: from these thoughts the choice to include Geometry and Graphics in History in the list of the 2018 conference topics. On the Conference website, the 3D configuration originating the graphic logo appears, suspended and oscillating in the virtual graphic space of the webpage, as a clear sign of the present statute of Geometry and Graphics, digital and still human centered. My sincere thanks go to Otto Röschel, the ISGG President in office in 2016, when it has been proposed to organize the ICGG2018 in Milano, and to the members of the ISGG Board of Regents, for their trust in us, as well as in me personally, and to Yasushi Yamaguchi, the estimeed present President in office of the ISGG, for his secure leadership and reliable support. My deepest gratitude is addressed to all the participants to the ICGG2018, authors, delegates, students, and accompanying persons, adults and often kids, since without their interest, engagement, and participation, this Conference, one of the most attended up to now, would have simply not been possible. I sincerely hope that you all could have rich and profitable academic benefits from the 18th International Conference on Geometry and Graphics, a memorable experience at our University, and an enjoyable time in Milano. Once more, also on behalf of the ICGG2018 Organizing Board, WELCOME!