Evzen Korec (born 16 September 1956) is a Czech scientist and businessman. He is the owner and CEO of the real estate development company EKOSPOL and Tábor Zoo.[1] He is the co-author of 11 patents and more than 20 research articles published in international scientific journals. Korec has also written six books.[2]
Korec graduated from the Faculty of Science, Charles University in 1981, in Molecular Biology and Genetics. His master's thesis was titled "Analysis of Susceptibility and Resistance to Rous Sarcoma Virus in Inbred Line of Minor Poultry." Between 1983 and 1986, he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he received a Ph.D. in Oncology with his doctoral thesis, "The Expression and Detection of Virus Proteins of Tumor Viruses."[3]
In 1992, he founded the real estate development company EKOSPOL, and has served as its CEO and chairman since then. EKOSPOL is one of the two largest residential developers in the Czech Republic by market share of apartment sales,[4] and has also been listed among the 50 leading residential developers in Central and Eastern Europe by a trade magazine.[5]
Korec regularly lectures at the University of Economics in Prague,[6] and frequently comments on residential development, construction, housing, and the mortgage market in Czech media. Between 2010 and 2016 and in 2018, he was the most frequently quoted public figure in the Czech development industry, and EKOSPOL was the most frequently mentioned development company in the media.[7]
As the CEO of EKOSPOL development company, Korec formulated Korec's rule, which says: "The final sales price of an apartment with the area of up to 50 m2 must correspond to a maximum of 20 times the annual rent in a given location. For larger apartments (large bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments, etc.) the sales price should be on the level of a maximum of 25 to 30 times the annual rent."[8]
Korec's rule helps a person interested in buying an apartment to relatively precisely determine the maximum sales price of an apartment in a given location. This rule applies generally, independent of the location. The rent price already reflects the attractiveness of the location, and the current rent price of a given location can be easily found on real estate websites.
Korec is also involved in animal protection and preservation. Korec purchased Tábor Zoo in 2015 after its shutdown. Later that year, the zoo reopened to the public, with a focus on the protection of endangered animals. Korec raises a variety of animals, including koi carp and horses. He is the owner of the Korec Corso kennel.
Korec leads a scientific group in Tabor Zoo focused on the genetics of two animal models – dogs and Bison sp.[9] His group determined the average lifespan of Cane Corso dogs through a study of a statistically significant group in cooperation with 72 Cane Corso kennels from 25 countries. The research aims to extend the life of Cane Corso dogs. In this publication, the relationship between average lifespan and hair colour was described in mammals for the first time. The research results were published in the Open Veterinary Journal.[10] He has also researched the inheritance of coat colour in the Cane Corso Italiano breed, describing the segregation ratio of coat colour in the offspring in relation to the coat colour of the parents. The results suggest that at least one gene responsible for coat colouring is located on the sex chromosome. The findings are supposed to help breeders predict various traits of the litter.[11]
Korec is married to Jana, and they have one son.[12]