Our unique depth of scientific knowledge has allowed ferrous metallurgy to lead the development of a successful computational materials design methodology grounded in a system of fundamental databases. Expansion of this approach to embrace acceleration of the full development and qualification cycle has resulted in the flight of the first fully computationally designed and qualified material. The example of ferrous alloys provides a template for a general methodology of computational design for all materials. (C) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.