In its pre-operational phase the GMES Emergency Response Service (ERS) will be “powered” by two EC funded complementary Projects: SAFER and linkER.
LinkER, a Service Contract fully financed by the EC, is the Preparatory Action intended to support the operational use of GMES Emergency Response Service products across the whole European Union. This goal is being reached through developing customised tools installed within each national/EC user community, represented by its own National User Focal Point (FP) as well as the EC User Focal Points in the DG ECHO/MIC (Civil Protection), DG RELEX (Delegations) and DG ECHO (humanitarian aid). All User Focal Points will have direct access to GMES ERS products and will be supported to easily integrate them into the respective operational workflows of each participating State. In a joint approach these necessary procedural and IT interfaces will be developed taking into account users’ process flows.
Both technical and procedural developments of linkER will be supported by adequate linkER trainings and exercises in cooperation, when applicable, with DG ECHO/MIC.
The 3 years project started on 16th December 2008, ending in December 2011 and will be coordinated by eGEOS, involving 12 partners, DLR as the biggest partner.