MODULE 2 · LESSON 3 / 5
Competitive Openness™ (Openness Score™) — HHI explained
⏱ 14 min
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What is the HHI?
The HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) is the standard tool for analyzing market concentration. It has been used in industrial economics for decades. In Stratensight, it is applied to the patent space.
HHI formula
HHI = 0
Perfect competition — no dominant player
HHI = 10,000
Total monopoly — a single player controls everything
Top-5 > 20%
CONCENTRATED threshold or lower likely
Inversion Stratensight: high HHI = strong concentration = low Openness Score™. The more concentrated the space, the closer the Openness Score™ is to 0.
The 4 labels — what each band shows
The 4 Openness Score™ labels each describe a distinct filing structure. The weight of the Openness Score™ in the Decision Score formula is 0.15 (15%).
Filings are spread across many assignees. None reaches a dominant share.
To verify: the top-5 share and the new-entrant ratio — a broad spread can be recent.
A few assignees stand out, none dominates.
To verify: the new-entrant ratio — it separates a space that is opening from one that is concentrating.
3 to 5 assignees hold the bulk of the filings.
To verify: the exact top-5 share and how the HHI moved over recent years.
1 or 2 assignees hold the bulk of the filings.
To verify: whether the concentration is stable or recent, and whether the corpus covers the full technology scope.
FORBIDDEN labels — why?
Three labels were explicitly rejected from the Stratensight system because they create false impressions or dangerous analytical ambiguities.
Forbidden labels in Stratensight
Implications by verdict — the blocking guards
The Openness Score™ interacts directly with the Decision Engine™. Here is the key blocking guard involving the Openness Score™:
Blocking guard
openness < 20 AND verdict == INVEST→INVEST → MONITORAn Openness Score™ below 20 means a hyper-dominated space. Even with a high Decision Score, CONVERGING SIGNALS is overridden to PARTIAL CONVERGENCE to protect the user.
What DOMINATED shows
A DOMINATED space (0–29) measures a filing structure, not a decision. It indicates a strong concentration of intellectual property — what that concentration implies depends on your position and on factors patents do not measure.
Solid-State Batteries case — concentrated space
The Solid-State Batteries case illustrates the CONCENTRATED Openness Score™. 499 patents, acceleration phase, score around 46 — in the CONCENTRATED band (30–54).
Solid-State Batteries
Case study — CONCENTRATED space
Dataset
499 patents
Lifecycle
acceleration
Openness Score™
~46 → CONCENTRATED (30–54)
Dominant players
LG Energy, Samsung SDI
What the case shows: The space is CONCENTRATED: LG Energy and Samsung SDI hold a significant share of the IP. To verify before any reading: the exact top-5 share, the new-entrant ratio, and whether the corpus covers the full technology scope.
Key takeaways from this lesson
- 4 labels: OPEN(80–100) · CONTESTED(55–79) · CONCENTRATED(30–54) · DOMINATED(0–29)
- FORBIDDEN labels: FRAGMENTED, MONOPOLISTIC, OPEN MARKET
- Blocking guard: openness < 20 + CONVERGING SIGNALS → overridden to PARTIAL CONVERGENCE
- DOMINATED measures a filing concentration — it is not an instruction
QUIZ DE VALIDATION
1. An Openness Score™ of 62 maps to which label?
2. Which Openness Score™ label is forbidden in Stratensight?
3. Openness Score™ of 15 with verdict CONVERGING SIGNALS — what happens?