From my math undergrad, I feel like generally there are two feelings on this kind of thing:

- No practical application is needed, since studying math is an end in itself

- If there is a practical application, it should be fairly obvious and the author should not have to stoop to the level of trying to enumerate them

I'm not saying I agree, but I think there is part of the math community that doesn't care to enumerate practical applications. Expecting this kind of thing from this area of research may be an uphill battle.