This special issue comprises selected papers from the workshop New Trends in Model Coupling, Theory, Numerics and Applications (NTMC'09) which took place in Paris, September 2 - 4, 2009. The research of optimal technological solutions in a large amount of industrial systems requires to perform numerical simulations of complex phenomena which are often characterized by the coupling of models related to various space and/or time scales. Thus, the so-called multi-scale modelling has been a thriving scientific activity which connects applied mathematics and other disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology or even social sciences. To illustrate the variety of fields concerned by the natural occurrence of model coupling we may quote: meteorology where it is required to take into account several turbulence scales or the interaction between oceans and atmosphere, but also regional models in a global description, solid mechanics where a thorough understanding of complex phenomena such as propagation of cracks needs to couple various models from the atomistic level to the macroscopic level; plasma physics for fusion energy for instance where dense plasmas and collisionless plasma coexist; multiphase fluid dynamics when several types of flow corresponding to several types of models are present simultaneously in complex circuits; social behaviour analysis with interaction between individual actions and collective behaviour.