It’s a wrap! After years of preparation and in spite of the operating challenges from the COVID-pandemic, the ISLC returned successfully to Germany in 2021 after a 20-year pause. The conference wrapped up on 14 October, on a beautiful autumn day in the Dorint Hotel in historic Potsdam, just outside the capital Berlin. The 27th ISLC was the first hybrid event in the conference’s history and was filled to capacity, with both in-person attendance (over 100) and the in-person exhibition selling out, complemented by over 100 on-line attendees, more than matching attendance in previous years. The ISLC succeeded thanks to a huge effort by its organizers, the team at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, excellent support from the conference chairs, the program committee and the IEEE Photonics Society as technical sponsors as well as enthusiastic participation from the semiconductor laser community. We saw especially strong technical on-line participation from the Japanese community, even though travelling was not possible. Indeed, Program Chair Akihiko Kasukawa from Furukawa Electric, was the only in-person representative from the entire Asia-Pacific region, continuing his untiring support of the ISLC.