The Lab has developed an AI-powered chatbot to serve as a learning companion for small business owners trying to understand university procurement. This report examines the interaction of 160 unique users with the chatbot between March and July 2025 and the insights we gained into how entrepreneurs actually experience the journey from procurement confusion to clarity.

• Sustained Learning Journey Behavior: Across 408 total interactions from 160 users, users consistently engage in educational progressions, building understanding layer by layer from basic concepts to implementation-ready knowledge within single sessions.
• Exceptional User Engagement: With 2.5 interactions per user, our chatbot significantly exceeds industry benchmarks for informational chatbots (2.0-3.0 = "good" range), indicating high value delivery.
• Guided Learning Success: 68.9% of queries use embedded prompts, demonstrating effective user guidance while still allowing room for sophisticated custom questions (31.1%).

A nationwide survey of 101 procurement professionals from diverse institutions explored gaps between supplier diversity commitments and implementation, practical steps for progress, and ways diverse suppliers can access the higher education marketplace. Insights were further enriched through three focus groups with procurement experts.

• Commitment vs. Implementation: Institutions often fall short in turning supplier diversity commitments into actionable progress.
• Key Obstacles: Challenges include limited resources, identifying qualified suppliers, complex procurement processes, and reliance on existing vendors.
• Progress Through Strategy: Some institutions are expanding diverse supplier participation through strategic initiatives.
• Training Gaps: Awareness and training for procurement staff and stakeholders remain limited, hindering progress.
• Building Supplier Capacity: Positive experiences with diverse suppliers highlight opportunities to help them compete more effectively.

Colleges and universities spent $632 billion in 2018-2019, yet only a small share of contracts go to minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs). To explore these challenges, Northeastern’s Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship surveyed 359 diverse small businesses in 2021.

• Despite commitments to supplier diversity, colleges and universities do very little business with diverse small businesses.
• Large vendors dominate higher education spending, while 58% of surveyed businesses had 10 or fewer employees, and 84% had 50 or fewer employees.
• Diverse businesses cite lack of awareness of bid opportunities and limited vendor relationships as major barriers.
• Small businesses often lack staff to pursue opportunities, while many institutions have limited outreach to underserved networks.
• Diverse businesses can compete better by learning the bidding process, building vendor connections, and improving skills.
• Procurement offices can promote supplier diversity by offering clear RFP guidance, appointing a contact for businesses, and increasing outreach.
• Diverse businesses must improve preparation, networks, and business practices to compete effectively.

Supplier diversity web pages can simplify complex procurement processes for small businesses while demonstrating an institution’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. However, an analysis of 114 New England higher education institutions revealed a significant lack of publicly available information, highlighting a supplier diversity awareness deficit despite commitments to equity and local community support.

• Despite widespread institutional commitment to diversity, most New England HEIs do very little to promote supplier diversity on their websites.
• Diverse small businesses often have difficulty learning how to engage with HEIs and do not know where to look for opportunities.
• The most informative HEI supplier diversity web pages include a range of resources to help DSBs navigate the procurement process.
• Supplier diversity web pages can improve outreach to diverse small businesses (DSBs) and highlight supplier diversity benefits to stakeholders.
• By increasing transparency in procurement, institutions can build trust, ensure ethical practices, and give DSBs clearer insight into their processes.