The recent understanding of string theory opens the possibility that the string scale can be as low as a few TeV. The apparent weakness of gravitational interactions can then be accounted by the existence of large internal dimensions, in the submillimeter region. Furthermore, our world must be confined to live on a brane transverse to these large dimensions, with which it interacts only gravitationally. In my lecture, I describe briefly this scenario which gives a new theoretical framework for solving the gauge hierarchy problem and the unification of all interactions. I also discuss a minimal embedding of the Standard Model, gauge coupling unification and proton stability. §1. Early motivation for large extra-dimensions