Many recent advances in sensor technology have arisen from the use of novel materials and whilst silicon has, perhaps, taken the lion s share of the glory, many others, both organic and inorganic, play an important and growing role. These have often been developed for, or first found uses in, other industries and noteworthy examples are microelectronics, optoelectronics and communications/IT, where large and rapidly developing markets have been underpinned by heavily funded research programmes. These have yielded many interesting materials and devices, such as semiconductors, doped optical fibres and optical sources, which have subsequently been exploited by sensor technologists. Further, several chance discoveries have yielded novel families of materials with properties of interest to the sensor community, including high temperature superconductors, magnetoresistive rare earth compounds and the fullerenes, a new form of carbon. This article considers the role of these materials in sensor technology.