To refine the areas of interest that might be important for their own company, the analysis team created a list of the “topics” found in the 17,000 patent database, and identified those related to application areas the company might want to participate in. As seen in the “New Application Areas for Consideration” figure the green highlighted topics represent application areas already being addressed by ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers. The team was happy to see that many areas were available for consideration for new products. They also understood that freedom to practice studies would be required for any areas their management team might want to pursue. On the plus side partnerships and mergers may be available to speed the new business development process along. The list was further refined as shown in the “More Application Areas” figure.