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Surface phenomena play a decisive role in the behaviour of engineering parts; their understanding and control are fundamental to the development of many advanced fields, such as: electronics, information technology, energy, optics, tribology, biology and biomimetics. Engineered surfaces rely on the control of surface characteristics to obtain a desired functional performance. This paper reports the advances in the state of the art considering the relationships between the properties of functional surfaces, their applications and the technologies to engineer surfaces. Since the last CIRP keynote paper the use of engineered surfaces has increased its industrial importance and expanded to new areas that take advantage of a greater knowledge of the phenomena occurring on the engineered surfaces. Energy transfer, microfluidics and biomedical diagnostics are particularly emerging fields for innovative applications, The availability of affordable technologies for mass production of engineered surfaces discloses nowadays wider markets. However, the potential of engineered surfaces must face the complexity of the relationships between surface properties, surface-based applications and surface engineering technologies. In this keynote paper, the principal physical and technological properties of surfaces have been reported. An analysis of the most interesting and advanced applications depending on surface characteristics outlines the spectrum of possibilities for engineered surfaces. The emerging technologies used for texturing surface have been reviewed. Some technologies are currently used in industry as conventional surface structuring methods, while others are used for microfabrication, but could be adapted to engineer surfaces. Issues related to the metrology of engineered surfaces should also be considered in order to support the industrial diffusion of new applications.