Design-led innovation interventions are predicated on the importance of establishing complex disciplinary collaborations. This paper reflects on the effects of different co-design methods to support knowledge exchange and the co-creation of new business ideas with multidisciplinary participants. It draws on data collected from sandpit style events entitled Chiasma, undertaken as part of the knowledge exchange hub, Design in Action (DiA) in which co-design methods were used to bring designers, entrepreneurs, and academics together to develop innovative business ideas in Scotland. Employing a thematic analysis of idea generation, team formation, and idea development, we suggest that a more nuanced range of methods, tools, and techniques can strengthen multidisciplinary engagement and participation. We argue that such approaches can be enhanced by designers and researchers’ shifting focus from co-design methods to supporting collaborative mindsets in knowledge exchange towards innovation.

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