Thisvolumereportsthemajorpartofthescientificcontributionsofthefirstinternational workshoponSuperconductingNano-ElectronicsDevices(SNED)heldinNapoli, Italy,at theendofMay2001. Theaimoftheworkshopwastofocusonrecentexperimentalandtheoreticalresultsin thefieldofsuperconductingnano-electronicsdevices. Itcombinedphysicswithpresent andfuturetechnologicalapplications:bothfundamentalandappliedaspectswerecovered. SpecialemphasiswasgiventoquantumcoherenceandcomputationusingsmallJosephson junctions,noiseinultrasensitivenanodevicesandpossibilitiesofmakinguseofsupercon­ ductivityinvariouson-chipdevices. Withtheseattributesandwithrecognizedinvited speakersintheirspecialtiestheworkshopmanagedtobringtogetheracollectionof scientistsfromnearbybutdistinctresearchcommunities. Thiswaytheatmosphereofthe workshopbecameveryopenanddiscussionswerelivelybothduringandoutsidethe sessions. Thisfreshdiscussionhopefullygaveeveryparticipantalotofnewideasfor furtherworkbackintheirhomeinstitutes. OneofthecentraltopicsintheworkshopwastheuseofdifferentJosephsonjunction configurationsasimplementationsofquantumbits. Atthetimeoftheworkshopwewere justwaitingforthesecondwaveofbreakthroughsinthisfield:theresultsemergingfrom theparticipatinglaboratoriesoftheworkshopjustatthetimeofthewritingofthispreface perhapsalsoprovetheusefulnessofourworkshop. Anotherfocuswasonvarioustopicsrelatedtoultrasensativedetectors. Theybring quantumlimitationstoapplications,andmanydeviceconceptsareresultsofunderstanding fundamentalandexcitingphenomenainsuperconductivity. Noiseandon-chipcooling wereexplicitlydiscussedinthedetectorsessionsaswell. ThechoiceofthelocationrecognizestheroleandthetraditionsofNapoliespeciallyin thefieldofmacroscopicquantumcoherence,oneofthemainissuesoftheworkshop. It furtherguaranteedtheparticipantsastimulatingatmosphereatthemeeting. Inconclusion,wewishtothanktheIstitutoItalianopergliStudiFilosofici,theIstituto diCiberneticadelConsiglioNazionaledelleRicerche,theUniversityofJyviiskylii,the IstitutoNazion