The Configurable Slit Unit (CSU) for EMIR shall enable the possibility to generate a multi-slit configuration, a long slit, or an imaging aperture at the entrance focal plane of the GTC-EMIR instrument. The CSU is therefore a cryogenic reconfigurable slit mechanism. It contains 100 sliding bars which can be positioned within the 307x307mm wide aperture of EMIR's instrument field of view. The development of the CSU has been a challenging task for several reasons: the high number of elements to control to configure a single observing pattern; the nominal working temperature of 77 K at which all the functionalities have to be accomplished, the stringent requirements in both accuracy and repeatability for most of the functionalities and the rotating nature of the EMIR instrument. The combination of these requirements urged the need to develop new pioneering concepts for actuation and position measurement. An actuation mechanism has been developed based on a piezo drive concept. A dedicated incremental, endless capacitive measurement system has been developed to measure the position of each separate bar. Both technologies are successfully realized in the demonstration programme that has been launched to prove the feasibility of the CSU concept. Besides actuation and position control of the bars, also thermal behavior of the CSU concept have been evaluated within the demonstration programme.