In early January, Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), a leading chemical technology company and a forerunner in renewable chemistry, announced it had acquired Liquid Light Inc. (Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, USA), a company spun out from Princeton University in 2008 that has developed and patented low-energy electrochemistry technologies to convert CO2 into major chemicals. Their patent portfolio includes filings on producing multiple chemical building blocks used in large existing markets, including oxalic acid, glycolic acid, ethylene glycol, propylene, isopropanol, methyl-methacrylate and acetic acid for the production of polymers, coatings and cosmetics.