Zbyněk Frolík (born 26 December 1953) is a Czech entrepreneur and founder of the medical-equipment manufacturer LINET. He established the company in 1990 and helped develop it into an international producer of hospital and nursing-care beds.
During the 2010s, he gradually stepped back from management and left LINET Group's executive leadership in 2019. He has since been active as investor in biotechnology, start-ups and real estate.
Early life and career Frolík was born in Prague on 26 December 1953 and studied technical cybernetics at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
Before founding LINET, he worked at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and then at Motol University Hospital in Prague. There he encountered technical aspects of hospital beds and became interested in making them.
During the communist period, Frolík and his wife grew roses and sold them privately. He later used the money from this activity to help finance his new business.
LINET In 1990, shortly after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, Frolík founded LINET with Ivan Husák and Luděk Šofr. The company began producing hospital beds in a former agricultural complex in Želevčice near Slaný. Frolík later bought out his two partners.
In the early years, German hospital-bed manufacturer Wissner-Bosserhoff bought 50% stake in LINET, which helped the Czech company gain access to international markets. LINET then expanded its exports and started to focus more on electrically adjustable and intensive-care beds.
By 2006 it was among the five largest hospital-bed makers in the world and exported about 85% of its production.
LINET and Wissner-Bosserhoff merged under LINET Group in 2011, combining the Czech company's technology with the German manufacturer's operations. The resulting LINET Group is owned by a Dutch holding company.
Frolík transferred operational responsibility to professional management. Frolík spent about five years preparing Tomáš Kolář as his successor. In October 2019 Frolík left LINET Group's executive management and became chairman of the supervisory board.
Investments and public activities After reducing his involvement in LINET's operations, Frolík became more active as an investor. He has invested alongside the investment firms Accolade and Enern (whose venture capital business became KAYA), and in the US biotechnology company Alzheon.
Frolík has also been involved in Czech research and innovation policy and has served on bodies focus on cooperation between industry, research institutions and universities.
He was a member of the Czech Council for Export and Investment from 2008, a post he held until 2017. From 2010 until 2014, he sat on the government's . He was also board member of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic from 2011 and later served as its vice-president until 2019.
Recognition In 2003, Frolík won Czech EY Entrepreneur of the Year and he was named Czech Manager of the Year for 2009.
The Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague awarded him its faculty medal in 2010 for helping to establish the faculty.
In 2011, Czech president Václav Klaus awarded him the second grade of the Medal of Merit.
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