My research activity is focused on applied physics and the development of functional materials and their applications. I started in the 70s working in the field of thin film solar cells (1971-1987). I after moved to the field of gas sensors focusing first on the development of thin film techniques and then on nanowire technology to develop functional metal oxide layers. My activity addressed both the study of the synthesis techniques to control and optimize the material structure at the micro and nanoscale to optimize its receptor and transductor function and the exploitation of these devices and electronic nose systems in different applicative fields including environmental monitoring, medicine, food quality, safety and security. Working in the field of gas sensors, in 1988 I founded the SENSOR laboratory (http://sensor.ing.unibs.it/). Originally composed by myself and a technician, it’s now a well established lab in the field of gas sensors and solar cells (see next) where about 20 people work, including personnel from both the University of Brescia and the National Council for Research (CNR). In the period 2001-2003 I was the coordinator of the industrial-applicative network of the National Institute for the Physics of Matter (INFM), contributing to start about 23 spin-off companies in Italy. Recently, the activity on functional materials at SENSOR lab has been dedicated to explore applications other than gas sensors, including biosensors and solar cells, leading to several publications on high impact papers, including some cover papers and funded projects .