Laser-induced direct metallization (LDM) is a two-step metallization process capable to apply 10-15 µm thick metallic structures on 3D surfaces of doped alumina ceramics. The flexible, tool free process can be used to apply conducting paths, antennas or sensoric structures on complex shaped structural parts in order to integrate electronic functionalities. It consists of an activation step in which the surface of the substrate is selectively structured with a pulsed laser beam ablating material and thereby changing surface morphology and chemistry. During the subsequent metallization step the substrate is immersed in an electroless plating bath in which metal is autocatalytically deposited selectively at the activated, catalytic surfaces. Both the effectivity of the activation as well as the properties of the metallic structures such as adhesion strength and roughness strongly depend on the complex interaction between the pulsed laser beam and the substrate material during the laser activation step and the resulting surface morphology and chemistry. To date pure alumina cannot be metalized effectively by LDM , chromia doped alumina can be activated with a picosecond pulsed laser. This talk gives an insight into the LDM metallization process of alumina-based ceramics and the parameters affecting the laser-material interactions during activation. Alumina and alumina/zirconia composites modified by different dopants were manufactured and activated with two laser systems and different laser parameters.  A picosecond pulsed laser in the green visible spectra with a wavelength of 523 nm and a nanosecond pulsed IR laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm were used. Metallization with Cu or Cu/Ni/Au was performed by electroless plating. Results show that the addition of a second phase such as zirconia is an effective way to improve the activation of Cr2O3 doped alumina. Sufficient activation was observed with both laser systems in a wide range of parameters. This can be explained by the increased light absorption of the materials due to the zirconia second phase. Zirconia has a higher refractive index than alumina and leads to a refined microstructure with a high amount of grain boundaries scattering and absorbing radiation. Areas activated with the ns-pulsed IR laser show higher surface roughness and more topographic irregularities. The factor governing the effectivity of the activation step is the absorption of the laser energy by the ceramic which can be controlled by composition, microstructure and dopant addition. The use of ceramic substrates broadens the application range of state-of-the-art polymer based mechatronic integrated devices (3D-MID). The technologies applied are available at technical scale. An injection molded ceramic 3D-MID component with conducting paths and mounted electronic components demonstrates the prospects of the technology to manufacture functionalized ceramic parts.