Diversity of heterogeneous catalysis as a discipline spanning many scales resulted in less attention to the meso-scale. An important issue in catalysis research, often overlooked by the academic community, is preparation of shaped bodies in a systematic way unraveling the scientific basis of such preparation. In particular presence of binders in shaped catalysts could influence reactions on bifunctional catalysts. Several challenges related to efficient spatial arrangement of active catalytic phases with a controlled distance between active sites are discussed. [GRAPHICS] .