Dr. Heinz Gerhäuser was born in Munich, Germany, in 1946. Focusing in Electrical Engineering, Dr. Gerhäuser studied at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where he received his master’s degree in 1973. Joining the Faculty of Engineering in 1973, Dr. Gerhäuser worked towards his PhD as a research scientist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. After he obtained his degree in 1980, Dr. Gerhäuser joined the IBM San José Research Laboratory as a visiting scientist from 1980 to 1981, where he worked on ink-jet printing.

Returning to the Nuremberg, Dr. Gerhäuser joined Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in 1985 and was appointed deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen. He led a joint research team between Erlang-Nuremberg University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, which created a functional re-time codec of the low complexity Adaptive Transform Coding algorithm, or LC-ATC. With the LC-ATC algorithm completed, the team began work on a real-time codec using multiple digital signal processors (DSPs). The hardware system, based on multiple DSP modules and a number of audio and data I/O interface cards, developed from scratch, allowed for significant optimizations of algorithm testing, resolving a major bottleneck that quickened advances in audio compression. In addition to his work on the MPEG Audio Layer 3 codec, Dr. Gerhäuser in his time at the Fraunhofer Institute has worked on audio and video coding, mobile data communication, data services for digital radio, international standardization, application of state-of-the-art communication techniques and teleworking. Gerhäuser, the successor to Dr. Dieter Seitzer’s administration, has led Fraunhofer IIS since 1998.

He is member of the Scientific Technology Council of the Bavarian State Government. In 2001 Gerhäuser was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Bavarian Minister-President. In 1999 Heinz Gerhäuser was appointed university professor of the endowed Chair of Information Technologies with Focus on Communication Electronics (LIKE) at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since January 1, 2005, he has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fraunhofer Microelectronics Alliance.