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National Research Council The contribution that scientific research provides to the growth and development of the country finds in technological transfer its most concrete and visible expression and makes it known to the public that research resources are an invest- ment and not a cash outflow. This is also due to the profound transformations of the structure of the business world, which, due to the crisis, the increased competition and demand for innovation driven by the international contexts and the technological opportunities that are increasingly present in the realities in which we live, have led to a “new propen- sity” towards building collaborative processes between public research organizations and the business world. Technology Transfer is therefore one of the major challenges that the Public Research Organizations are called upon to grasp, putting in place all the tools and initiatives useful to systematize the knowledge generated in order to deal with complex issues: getting closer to the stakeholders, grasping the needs of businesses and supporting their competitiveness, stimulating innovation, and guiding the design of public policies. The CNR's commitment in recent years has led to the creation of strategic partnerships and virtuous chains that today involve all the actors capable of making research a wealth and value for the community. These synergies are at the same time not only a way of creating a favourable environment for further development but also one of the ways in which the CNR has transformed into an institutional mission its efforts to create innovation from research. With the aim of strengthening these trends, research engagement can evolve through collaborations and become a sort of engine of our country's competitiveness by pursuing, amongst other things, the guidelines and objectives of the Na- tional Research Programme. The CNR, representing a pool of skills, expertise and specializations with which to meet the needs of stakeholders in strategic sectors, and having a national dimension that is well integrated in international realities and networks, can help attract excellence and investment, create new technology companies, and help to transfer to the market the results of their research. These paths, though, in order not to be unrealistic, have to deal with the processes, tools and actors that live in "the innovation ecosystem"; in other words it is necessary to confront the real possibilities - above all in terms of financial ability, vision and management - of the partners. Knowing how to do research is not enough: it is necessary to promote research and stimulate the establishment of prof- itable collaborations that cover the necessary stages of development of the results and that allow the results to be trans- ferred to the market. It is necessary to engage with others in demonstrating the value and the opportunity that the results represent. Patents, by their very nature, are a tool to support competitiveness and, when they are public, are the hub for establishing relationships and collaborations with other stakeholders, who can also support the development and application of pro- tected technologies. They are, in fact, the starting point, increasingly important, of the processes of development. This publication, which has now reached its fourth edition, is based on the common intent of the Enhancement of Re- search Office (SPRVR-CNR) and the Department of Engineering, ICT and Energy and Transport Technologies (DIITET-CNR) to promote the patent portfolio of the Department by creating an easy-to-use tool, accessible on-line, and available to stakeholders. The technologies presented in this volume show the heterogeneity of materials and thematic areas covered by DIITET and respond to the demand for identified expertise within the framework of the national and international strategies in the following fields: Aerospace, Intelligent and Sustainable Industry, Energy and Environment, Smart Communities, In- telligent Mobility Systems. Massimo Inguscio President of CNR