About us
ignato at a glance
Who we are and what drives us
ignato is a European initiative dedicated to embedding and scaling existing social innovations. It emerged from the Caritas network.
Our goal is to bring proven solutions more quickly to the places where they are needed. We connect organisations, knowledge and practice, creating the foundation for systematically spreading social innovations and anchoring them sustainably.
Why ignato
Carrying good solutions forward instead of reinventing them
Why this matters
Across Europe, organisations face similar social challenges. At the same time, effective solutions are emerging in many places, but often remain limited to a single context. There is often a lack of overview of existing innovations — or the knowledge of how they can be successfully transferred to other regions and structures. This is precisely where ignato comes in: creating the connection between existing solutions and their broader implementation.
What ignato aims to achieve
ignato wants to make social innovations more accessible, applicable and effective more quickly. We support organisations in identifying proven approaches, adapting them to their own context and putting them into practice. Our vision is a Europe where successful solutions do not remain isolated, but are carried forward as shared knowledge — reaching more people as a result.
How we work
ignato combines strategic orientation, methodological support and European networking. With a clear method, targeted knowledge transfer and exchange within the network, we support organisations in not only finding social innovations, but also successfully adopting them, further developing them and embedding them sustainably.
The added value for our partner organisations
Implementing proven social innovations, embedding them within one’s own organisation and building new collaborations as a result saves, above all, time. It is faster to integrate proven approaches than to develop them from scratch. It costs less, because existing expertise, practice and structures can be built upon. This enables a steeper learning curve, as organisations do not have to go through the long process of invention. It also reduces the risk of failure. As a result, we save resources and can create social impact more effectively.
We need to stop reinventing the wheel and start carrying proven solutions forward together.
Florian
Pomper
Chairman of ignato
, Head of Innovation at Caritas Vienna
Team
The people behind ignato
ignato is driven by an interdisciplinary team with experience in social innovation, organisational development and European collaboration.
Together, we work to identify solutions, connect them and bring them into new contexts.
Georg Schön
Managing Director of ignato
German, English, Spanish
Georg has more than 20 years of experience in the field of social innovation as a social entrepreneur, consultant and leader with UN agencies and NGOs. Through his programmes, hundreds of social entrepreneurs around the world have been supported in scaling their solutions.
Natalia Hecht
Programme Director of ignato
German, English, Spanish, French
Natalia Hecht is Programme Director at ignato and an expert in social innovation, inclusion and community work. She has many years of experience in impact management, evaluation and social change, and has been working on innovative projects in the NGO and Caritas sector for more than 13 years.
Carmen Cabotá
Head of Social Innovation at Caritas Spain
Board member of ignato
English, Spanish
Carmen Cabotá has been leading the Social Innovation department at Caritas Spain for eight years and coordinates innovation projects at national and European level. She represents Caritas Spain on the ignato Board and has many years of experience in international cooperation and emergency aid.
Orsolya Fülöp
Head of Social Services at Caritas Alba Iulia
Board member of ignato
Hungarian, Romanian, English
Orsolya Fülöp has almost 30 years of experience in the social sector and is Deputy Director at Caritas Alba Iulia. She is particularly committed to social inclusion and supporting disadvantaged groups. She also brings extensive experience in project management, team leadership and international cooperation.
Florian Pomper
Head of Innovation at Caritas Vienna
Chairman of ignato
German, English
Florian Pomper is Head of Innovation at Caritas Vienna and an expert in social innovation and social business. He is committed to social innovation at European level, teaches at universities and has many years of expertise in nonprofit management and social-sector development.
Founding partners
Founded together
ignato was initiated by several Caritas organisations that are pooling their experience and jointly pursuing new ways to embed and scale proven social innovations. These include Caritas Vienna, Caritas Española, Caritas Alba Iulia and Caritas Berlin.
Supporters
Strong partners by our side
ignato is backed by partners and supporters who strengthen social
innovation in Europe. Their support builds the foundation for organizational
development, expanding reach, and scaling impact.
Contact
Let’s get in touch
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Would you like to learn more about ignato, discuss a specific project or explore opportunities for collaboration? Please write to us using the form. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
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© 2026 ignato – Fostering Social Innovation - Verein zur Förderung Sozialer Innovation