This article presents the state of the art in the topical domain of crystallized inorganic or hybrid porous solids and describes their comparison and the strategic approaches currently being developed for understanding their formation, for discovering new multifunctional materials and for improved applications. From recent outstanding results in various fields, this paper suggests some new trends for using rational and predictive chemistry to bring chemical solutions to current societal problems like energy, sustainable development and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]