Valentino Rigato has been working for more than 25 years at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics - National Laboratories of Legnaro (INFN-LNL, Italy), where he is responsible for research projects on advanced materials and interdisciplinary physics with ion beams. He is the scientific coordinator of the two Van de Graaff ion accelerators of LNL entirely dedicated to cross disciplinary experiments. His experience ranges from surface characterization and ion surface interaction studies to thin films processes for the synthesis of nano-structured materials and multi-layers for mechanical, optical, X-ray and nuclear and quantum physics applications.