The challenges of today´s world such as scarcity of energy and resources, turbulent political situation as well as environmental aspects demand for a re-thinking in view of strategical sovereignty in Europe. There is an urgent need to strike new pathways, towards recycling and upcycling as well as towards development of new advanced materials and technologies enabling to respond quickly to changing environments. The presented contribution depicts selected approaches to address such challenges in the field of ceramic and/or metal cellular structured functional components in high temperature applications. Recent examples include a) carbon and carbide free cellular structured nozzles for metallurgy applications or for microwave plasma burners for the electrification of high temperature sintering or melting routes, b) macro-cellular electrodes in ceramic core shell composite structures, c) cellular filter ceramics for the recycling of steel and aluminum components, d) light weight ceramic/metal structures for the mobility and e) concepts for non-premixed combustion of ammonia in porous inert media. The cellular materials discipline deals with sustainable materials for high temperature processing as well as with sustainable processing of high-temperature materials. It is a unique opportunity for our materials, not only to be used as hidden heroes, but to show to the world that we can successfully meet the spirit of the future generations.