Integrated access to balloon-borne platforms for innovative research and technology. HEMERA will be complementary to national programmes and will coordinate European activities in the field of ballooning in order to: 1. Provide better and coordinated balloon access to the troposphere and stratosphere for scientific and technological research, in response to the scientific user needs. 2. Attract new users to enlarge the community accessing the balloon infrastructure and foster scientific and technical collaboration. 3. Enlarge the fields of science and technology research conducted with balloons. 4. Improve the balloon service offered to scientific and technical users through innovative developments. 5. Favour standardization, synergy, complementarities and industrialization through joint developments with greater cost-effectiveness. HEMERA will provide wider, simplified and more efficient access to the balloon facilities at European level to conduct highest-level research.