He founded the research activity in semiconductor optoelectronics at the University of Trento and started several laboratories of photonics, growth and advanced treatment of materials. He was the first president and founder of the IEEE italian chapter on Nanotechnology. He has directed 37 PhD students and more than 30 Master thesis students. His research activity concerned the optical properties of semiconductors. During the last years, he concentrated on Silicon based photonics where he looks for the convergence between photonics and electronics. He is interested in active photonics devices which can be integrated in silicon by using optical nolinearities and modified material properties. His interests encompass also optical sensors or biosensors and solar cells.