Evalutation of mechanical properties of materials and components to provide designers with the most reliable data is crucial. How to obtain such properties is well known for metallic materials and concrete, but more challenging for polymers and composites. The constructive models used in FEA have also increased complexity, and subsequently, experimental calibration is fundamental to get the right parameters. Modularity and mass production are two important features of next-generation marine structures. It is thus important to consider manufacturing technology during the design phase along with the choice of materials to optimise production costs. It is crucial to have a good overview of manufacturing techniques in order to suggest adapted material solutions. Next generation structures will have new requirements in terms of functionalities, thus requiring multi-material expertise. Numerical tools and adapted consitiutive models have a key role in multi-material design.