This special issue of the CONASESE journal collects contributions on ICT architectures and key ICT issues to implement control and automation through a large number of smart objects pervasively deployed in the physical world and wirelessly connected and equipped with some control logic running at the core of the application. Therefore, the power grid becomes "smart" when it is able to react and adapt to any event occurring in any point of the grid (generation, transmission, distribution, consumption) by adopting proper strategies and countermeasures. To make this a reality, a bi-directional flow of information is needed among the different actors of the grid at different points of the grid. Many of the elements of a Smart Grid implementation are already available, including smart meters, automated monitoring systems and power management systems. The communication network has a crucial role and its cost and performance will greatly impact utilities' revenues and the capability of the new grid to meet its ambitious objectives. For sure, the communication network will be heterogeneous, including wired and wireless, as well as private and public solutions. Paper #1 "Adaptive Monitoring and Control Architectures for Power Dis- tribution Grids over Heterogeneous ICT Networks," Paper #2 "Applications of Machine Learning and Service Oriented Architectures for the new Era of Smart Living" presents the enhancements of a proprietary BMS product, namely Ecosystem. Paper #3 "A framework for Quality of Service support in Things as a Service oriented architectures" presents a general solution to support the broad range of QoS requirements that characterize heterogeneous M2M applications. Paper #4 "Mediated Security Pairing for the Internet of Things" presents challenges and approaches for security pairing interface-restricted globally distributed things.