For researchers, “digital transformation” can sound abstract until the day your entire scholarly output becomes findable, connected and visible in a single place. In early June 2026 the HI-EURECA-PRO partner, Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, became the first university in Poland to deploy Elsevier’s Pure one of the world’s most widely used Current Research Information Systems (CRIS). In that single step Silesian University of Technology joined an international community of almost 600 universities and research institutions (Silesian University of Technology, 3 June 2026).
A CRIS is quietly transformative. Pure ingests data from many sources into one structured ecosystem and presents not just publications but projects, research infrastructure and expertise — turning a university’s scattered scholarly footprint into a discoverable, navigable whole. As the rectorate explained, the implementation is a multi-stage undertaking; the first records were imported from the university’s Omega database, so complete publication information is already live, with projects and infrastructure to follow. The launch was marked by a conference, A Modern Research University in Practice: Elsevier Pure at the Silesian University of Technology, held on 1 June 2026 and opened by Rector Prof. Marek Pawełczyk, with a keynote on the university’s research-and-digitalisation strategy “from local to global visibility” (conference programme).
Why does this belong in a heritage-and-innovation hub? Because it is digital transformation with immediate, practical value for research and researchers: less administrative friction, easier discovery of expertise for new collaborations, and a sharper international profile. For universities in widening regions, visibility is opportunity, and a well-run CRIS is one of the most cost-effective ways to claim it. It is exactly the kind of research-data infrastructure the DTH exists to champion, and a model that peer institutions across the alliance can learn from directly.