Since July 2007 the Department of Health (DH) in England and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA) have been working jointly and have developed the HCAI Technology Innovation Programme, which has been formally acknowledged in the DH HCAI strategy for 2008 — Clean Safe Care (DH, 2008). Funding has been made available to support the programme as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review for 2008-09. This paper provides an overview of the programme including the predicted benefits and outcomes. The actual outcomes from the programme will be published as academic papers in a range of journals, including the journal of the Infection Prevention Society.