The development of new hybrid materials that can be integrated into current technologies is one of the most important challenges facing material scientists today. The purpose of this work is to review recent studies in one largely unexplored area of nanobiotechnology: the development of nano-bio hybrid materials that exploit Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) to enhance the functionalities of technologically promising photosynthetic biomaterials. One of very promising approaches is to employ semiconductor quantum dots having a broad absorption spectrum as nanoantennae coupled with the natural light-harvesting complexes of photosynthetic reaction centers. This system reveals great potential for the utilization of quantum dots in artificial photosynthetic devices. The second very useful functionality, which is discussed in this review, is the possibility to enhance the efficiency of the main biological function (proton pumping) of the protein bacteriorhodopsin using nonradiative energy transfer from quantum dots. Also recent studies revealed that FRET-based improvement of the biological function of bacteriorhodopsin in the presence of quantum dots allows for strong wavelength-dependent enhancement of the nonlinear refractive index of bacteriorhodopsin. These new hybrid bio-nanomaterials with exceptional light-harvesting and nonlinear properties will have numerous photonic applications employing their photochromic, energy transfer, and energy conversion properties. © 2014.