Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) have received much attention in the last decade due to their unique electronic properties and extraordinary mechanical properties. The ability to grow a variety of semiconductor, oxide and other inorganic materials in the form of nanowires with controlled properties and orientation also provides a competitive avenue for applications in logic, memory, data storage, sensors, instrumentation and others. Growth of the inorganic nanowires and carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition follows a common basis of vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. This talk will focus on results from growth and characterization of these materials with a focus on application development in the above areas. Application examples will include carbon nanotube based chemical sensors, biosensors and instrumentation, phase change nanowire based random access memory, and other electronic devices. The author acknowledges contributions from Cattien Nguyen, Bin Yu, Jeff Sun, Jing Li, Y. Lu, Prabhu Arumugam, Hua Chen and Jun Li.