Applied Research: A Scientist’s Perspective * *Invited plenary speech at the joint IFAC WRTP'2000 &AARTC'2000. The referenced research projects SynUTC and W2F received support from the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) grant P10244-OMA, the OeNB "Jubilaumsfonds-Proje t" 6454, the BMfWV research contract Zl.601.577/2-IV/B/9/96, and the Austrian START programme Y41-MAT. For further information see http://www.auto.tuwien.ac.at/Projects/SynUTC/and http://www.auto.tuwien.ac.at/Projects/W2