While the search for high-performance will continue to be one of the main driving factors in computing system design, embedded systems have an increasing need in optimizing extra-functional properties (EFP) in terms of energy efficiency, predictability, reliability and adaptability. These EFP are vital for safety critical applications, including hard real-time systems. It was reported that EFP constraints are becoming the main barriers in the exploitation of technological advances. If these EFP are not taken into account in the design of safety-critical systems, failures may occur which may result in loss of life and damage. Transportation systems (automotive, railway or avionics), medical devices or nuclear systems are examples of critical systems where designer needs to explore different tradeoffs in terms of performance, reliability, complexity and energy consumption. This special session is dedicated to the different topics related to the study of efficient support of critical applications in general and those taking aware of EFP in particular: