That's how it works. Generally with theoretical research, especially math-heavy disciplines like computer science, the distance in time from you coming up with

That's how it works. Generally with theoretical research, especially math-heavy disciplines like computer science, the distance in time from you coming up with a theory and someone finding a practical application for it is large enough that most people don't even put the two together, unless it was a pretty major deal in academic circles when it was theorized. On the other hand, the things we in the industry care about are not going to come from universities(at least not recent things from universities) but rahter companies like google.