Karl Leo studied physics in Freiburg and Stuttgart. From 1989 to 1991 he was at AT&T Bell Labs and from 1991 to 1993 at RWTH Aachen University. He has been Professor of Optoelectronics at TU Dresden since 1993. His main interests are novel semiconductors. His awards include the Leibniz Prize (2002), the German President's Future Prize (2011) and the European Patent Office's Lifetime Inventor Award (2021). He is co-founder of several companies, including Novaled and Heliatek.