Innovation in Pharmacy: From the “Tiekie Boks” to Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

When I first arrived at university, innovation looked very different from what it does today. I did not have a mobile phone in my pocket. Communication with home required planning. If you wanted to phone your parents, you had to find a telephone booth, dig through your pockets for coins, and hope the line did not cut out halfway through the conversation. Many South Africans of my generation will remember the familiar sound and feel of the “tiekie boks”, a small but essential piece of technology that connected us to the people who mattered most.