Plenty of room at the bottom, complexity to the top

In 1959, in his visionary lecture "Plenty of Room at the Bottom", Richard Feynman laid the conceptual groundwork for what would become nanotechnology. Almost seven decades later, we live in a time where nano- and micro-engineered structures—such as photonic crystals and metamaterials—have moved from speculation to sophisticated design and practical application. This talk offers a condensed, multidisciplinary review of nanotechnologies, with a particular focus on optoelectronic structures and optimal design methodologies. It highlights contemporary scientific research at the nano-scale as inherently complex due to the integration of mathematical modeling, multiscale simulations, machine learning, and domain-specific databases. These tools are addressed as a support for innovations relevant for solving contemporary problems in a world under 4th industrial revolution, challenges recognized as UN Sustainable Development Goals, with special concern on how we teach and communicate cutting-edge science in engineering curricula.