Nonlinear conical waves are peculiar wave packets, featuring a `hot`, localized core that travels locked to a `cold`, extended, energy reservoir. Recent experiments in nonlinear optics have shown them to support stationarity and localization over long-distance propagation in bulk-transparent media, even in the presence of strong interaction with matter and nonlinear dissipation. This unique property of conical waves opens new perspectives for those applications in optical technology that would benefit from the availability of genuine `particle-like` waves. Relevant examples are: laser micro-machining, optical-waveguide writing, deep-field nonlinear microscopy, photolithography, plasma-filament generation for lightening control, frequency conversion, etc. As regards fundamental research, nonlinear dissipation has been found to accompany multidimensional wave localization in virtually all physical systems investigated. Thus, the conical-wave concept represents a valid alternative to that of solitons to achieve a unified description of instabilities and collapse in many extended systems, ranging from Optics to Acoustics, Bose-Einstein Condensates and Quantum Physics.