Knowing what research organizations actually do, with whom, where, how and for what purpose: Monitoring research portfolios and collaborations

•The paper presents the first components of a cost-effective system that will be able to monitor changes in research organizations' portfolios and collaborations.•The subsystem that has been developed can describe at particular moments of time what research organizations actually do, with whom, where, how and for what purpose.•Social Network Analysis techniques are used to discover configurations in the structure of a research program and network.•The information generated with the system can be used to monitor and evaluate a research program's organizational learning.