After graduation, he became a technologist in the then national company, Prumyslove sklo (Industrial Glass), at its Ruzenin plant. There he gained his first practical knowledge of glass technology. His interest in the then-evolving area of industrial glass brought him to the Sklo Union Research Institute in Prague. In the institute, he started as a researcher and, in 1968, became the head of the research department. In this capacity, Igor fully applied his practical and professional experience and excellent organisational skills to successfully completing a large number of applied technology research projects. In many cases, the results of the projects were implemented into production. In 1990, he was nominated the Deputy Minister of Industry, being responsible for the management of the silicate mass industry. After six months in office, he returned to research and, together with Zdenek Strnad, founded the private company, LASAK.

He started working at LASAK as the economic and business director. Within a short time, the two founders built LASAK into a thriving company with a dominant market position in the Czech Republic, and the ability to successfully develop further.

On July 5, 2014, Igor tragically died in a car accident, at the age of 71. His work in the area of economic management of the company was taken on by his son Jan Riedl, who is the CFO.

Zdenek decided to honour the family tradition and graduated from the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, where he defended his doctoral dissertation on silicates in 1970 and in 1992 habilitated as an Associate Professor.

He worked as an independent researcher at universities in the United Kingdom between 1970 and 1971. In 1986, he was employed as a glass ceramic materials consultant by the Japanese company Nippon Electric Glass Ltd. From 1974 to 1992, he worked at the Sklo Union Research Institute, and from 1978 to 1984, as a member of the International Glass Committee.

After 1989, Zdenek focused his scientific activities on research into bioactive materials for the replacement and regeneration of human tissues. In 1991, he co-founded the LASAK company.

The initial orientation and further direction of the newly established LASAK company were significantly influenced by Zdenek and his vision of an “endosteal implant with a bioactive surface”. At that time, the concept of bioactivity was connected only to ceramic bioactive materials. However, the mechanical properties of such materials usually did not even meet the requirements of moderately loaded implants. The idea of a bioactive implant of sufficient mechanical strength was partially met by the development of the endosteal dental titanium implant, IMPLADENT, with a plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite bioactive coating (Z. Strnad, J. Strnad, C. Povysil, K. Urban: Effect of Plasma Sprayed Hydroxyapatite Coating on Osteoconductivity of Titanium Implants. The International Journal of Maxillofacial Implants, 15 (2000), 483–490).

However, the idea of an “endosteal implant with a bioactive surface” was not fulfilled in its entirety until the launch of the unique BIO-surface technology. The technology was developed and implemented by LASAK under the management of Jakub Strnad. It is successfully used by both the IMPLADENT and by BioniQ^® implant systems.

Jakub, the son of Zdenek Strnad, has led LASAK since 2009. Zdenek is currently the Head of Clinical Research of the company.