Karel Havlíček (politician)

Karel Havlíček (born 16 August 1969) is a Czech politician. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Minister of Industry and Trade and Minister of Transport in Second Cabinet of Andrej Babiš.

Early and personal life
In 2004, Havlíček completed his medicine studies in the field of economics and management at the Prague University of Economics and Business, receiving Ph. D degree.

Havlíček is an avid listener of rock and folk music, about which he has occasionally written articles. Since 2010, Havlíček and his wife have been reconstructing the Memorial of Karl Schwarzenberg in Český Krumlov. Havlíček is a polyglot: Apart from his native Czech, he can speak English, German, Russian — as well as some Chinese, French, and Spanish.

Economics career
Since 2015, Havlíček has been majority owner of textile industry Sindat with a 58% share, through the company F-Comp.

Since 2010, Havlíček has held the position of chairman of the board of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic, which he co-founded in 2000. Havlíček also has been a member of the Government Council for Research, Development and Innovation since 2014, having been its vice-chairman from 2018 until 2022. He previously sat in the government Council for Public Investment, the Business Council, the Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Export Strategy.