Up for vote: The classic Mini and 99 other 'Great British Innovations'

The British Science Association has just opened a major poll to the public to vote online for the most important and influential innovation of the last century in the field of science and technology. Sadly, only one automobile - the classic Mini created by Alec Issigonis in 1959 - has made it onto the shortlist of significant innovations hatched in the U.K.

The classic Mini set an example for small and compact cars with its front-wheel drive layout and a transverse-mounted front engine on top of the gearbox. The unique construction gave the classic Mini the maximum possible interior space on the smallest possible footprint.

The cute hatchback competes with notable inventions like radar and ultrasound technology, the penicillin antibiotic, the artificial hip, the hovercraft, the jet engine, the atomic clock, Dolly the cloned sheep and the World Wide Web.

The voting period coincides with the National Science and Engineering Week, and is being run under the patronage of the world renowned astrophysicist - Professor Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University.

The complete shortlist can be found on the specially created website where online votes can be cast until 24^th March 2013.