Classic MINI is small and compact London - Arabstoday Classic MINI has been nominated for a top innovation award by the British Science Association. The small motor car, created by Alec Issigonis in 1959, is listed among some of the most important and influential innovation of the last century in the field of science and technology. Front-wheel drive, a transverse-mounted front engine and a gearbox below it have given the classic MINI the maximum possible interior space on the smallest possible footprint, setting an example for small and compact cars for generations to come. The classic MINI is regarded as a model of British engineering prowess to this day. It is the only car to make it onto the distinguished shortlist of significant innovations hatched in the UK, where it is competing with inventions such as radar and ultrasound technology, the antibiotic penicillin, the artificial hip, the hovercraft, the jet engine, the atomic clock, Dolly the cloned sheep and the World Wide Web. The vote is taking place to coincide with National Science and Engineering Week, which aims to generate enthusiasm for science and technology among the young in particular. The poll is being run under the patronage of the world-famous astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University. The complete shortlist of “Great British Innovations” can be found on the website specially created for the poll – www.topbritishinnovations.org – where online votes can be cast until 24 March 2013.