Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ina Schieferdecker is Ministerial Director for Research for Technological Sovereignty and Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This department is responsible for initiatives on modern key technologies such as quantum technologies, material technologies, microelectronics, communication, software and AI technologies as well as the future of work and value creation. Before joining the BMBF, Schieferdecker was Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), Professor for Quality Engineering of Open Distributed Systems at TU Berlin and Director of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society - The German Internet Institute. She is a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and was a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), the High-Tech Forum 2025 (HTF), the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 and the board of the Technology Foundation Berlin (TSB). She has received several awards for her scientific work, including the EUREKA Innovation Prize and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Prize for Young Professors.