Friederike Botzenhardt is head of the Task Force Innovation Fund at the German Federal Ministry of Health (since establishment of the Innovation Fund in 2015). The Innovation Fund is a programme of the German statutory health insurance system, that funds innovative health care models and health care research. Previously, Friederike worked for the division General Health Policy Planning and the EU Health Policy Unit at the Ministry, which included work on health system performance assessment, innovation and the health economy, the German government's demography strategy and the national strategy on sustainable development. From 1999 until 2006, she served as policy advisor at the health policy division of the Federal Chancellery. She graduated from the University of Cologne with a degree in economics, specializing in social and health policy studies.