Nanotechnology, which can be defined as the fabrication and manipulation of matter and artefacts on the sub-100nm scale, is becoming of increasing importance in modern society in fields ranging from ultra-precision mechanical engineering to nanostructured materials. It is closely related to microsystems technology (MST), whereby the techniques of sensing, actuation and communications are integrated into a single microassembled package (ideally onto a single chip) with signal processing electronics. MST offers great prospects for extending the capabilities of semiconductor devices. Ferroelectric materials offer a wide range of properties which can be used in such microsystems, particularly the pyroelectric effect for thermal infra-red detection and imaging and the piezoelectric effect for sensors (sound, acceleration etc), and for actuators (motors, pumps). The topics of nanotechnology and microsystems technology are reviewed and the potential for ferroelectric thin and thick films to contribute to these fields is discussed, especially from the aspect of materials and process integration.