Innovation and Knowledge Co-Creation in Intercultural Workshops: The Role of Meta-Context – Lessons from a Swiss-Korean FacLab Experience

Objective This paper investigates knowledge co-creation in a transdisciplinary and intercultural design workshop conducted in November 2025 at Chonnam National University, Korea. Fifty-nine students from information systems, law, architecture, and tourism management (University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Chonnam National University, Korea) collaborated to design a Creative Transdisciplinary Learning Space (FacLab). Methodology The workshop operationalized an integrated framework combining C-K theory, Meta-Context (M), Design Thinking, and the 3Hs (Head, Heart, Hands) model. Using qualitative analysis of participant questionnaires, workshop artifacts, and facilitator observations of team interactions, the study examines how participants appropriated the proposed theoretical tools, how disciplinary and cultural backgrounds influenced collaboration, and which forms of knowledge artifacts emerged. Findings Results show that while structured design frameworks supported ideation, contextual factors – particularly intercultural interaction and time pressure – were dominant in shaping the creative and knowledge processes, including the selection of which knowledge is worth transmitting and the prior-itization of rapid co-construction of shared foundational knowledge. The study identifies seven recurring participant roles that structured collaborative dynamics and proposes practical recommendations for designing knowledge-intensive collaborative workshops. Value Added These findings contribute to research on knowledge management in situated, cross-cultural learning environments and provide empirical insight into how theoretical innovation frameworks operate in practice. For intercultural management, the findings highlight how linguistic asymmetries and cultural differences in communication styles shape knowledge co-creation – underscoring the need for intercultural intelligence in globally distributed teams. Recommendations Practitioners should invest as much in designing the conditions for collaboration (who sits next to whom, how breaks are structured, how language differences are accommodated) as in selecting the methods for collaboration. Structured intercultural encounters, when properly facilitated, can transform diversity from a challenge into a competitive advantage.