The demands on material characteristics is challenging and partially contradictory. Materials should be strong like metals but chemically inert like low surface energy polymers. Another example are extreme lightweight but fail-proof materials. Those conflicts can be overcome by new composite concepts that allow to fuse traditional material classes like ceramics, polymers and metals. A targeted tuning of the micro-structure enables the realization of atypical material properties like flexibility in ceramics. Furthermore, self reporting and actuating concepts can be added to create materials that replace complex micro-systems. Examples will be given including new material connection technology [1,2] aeromaterials [3] and sensor [4] and self reporting concepts [5].