  We review the construction of chiral four-dimensional compactifications of
type IIA string theory with intersecting D6-branes. Such models lead to
four-dimensional theories with non-abelian gauge interactions and charged
chiral fermions. We discuss the application of these techniques to building of
models with spectrum as close as possible to the Standard Model, and review
their main phenomenological properties. We also emphasize the
advantages/disadvantages of carrying out this idea using supersymmetric of
non-supersymmetric models.
