  In this article, we report some examples of how high-energy electron
irradiation can be used as a tool for shaping material properties turning the
generation of point-defects into an advantage beyond the presumed degradation
of the properties. Such an approach is radically different from what often
occurs when irradiation is used as a test for radiation hard materials or
devices degradation in harsh environments. We illustrate the potential of this
emerging technique by results obtained on two families of materials, namely
semiconductors and superconductors.
