The University of Genoa “Energia 2020” project is an important and innovative action within the Smart City & Sustainable Energy areas developed in public partnership with: Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) , Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea (MATTM) and Liguria Region. The innovative project began in 2011 with the intention of making the Savona University Campus a "Living Lab" of the city of the future where to install cutting-edge technologies for sustainable energy production and management, with a special focus on people and environmental protection. Two major research infrastructures were established from 2014 to 2017:

• Smart Microgrid Polygeneration – SPM: implementation of a “smart” microgrid to provide electrical and thermal energy to the Campus area (action financed by MIUR);
• Smart Energy Building – SEB: construction of a sustainable building n-ZEB (nearly Zero Emission Building) and connected to the SPM (action financed by MATTM)

The total value of the interventions was 5.4 M€.  Subsequently, with the contribution of Liguria Region authority, an additional 2.5 M€ was used to energetically upgrade the Campus buildings and to upgrade some of the SPM components.

The SEB building and the SPM network constitute an important example of an intelligent urban district that allows the University of Genoa to meet a large part of its energy consumption while minimizing primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

The infrastructures allowed also to improve the quality of the University of Genoa's research in the areas of sustainable energy and electrical systems through various collaborations with national and international universities, companies and entities, including within European projects.

In 2016, thanks to the actions developed within the “Energy 2020” project, the Savona Campus joined the ISCN network. The International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) provides a global forum to support leading colleges, universities, and corporate campuses in the exchange of information, ideas, and best practices for achieving sustainable campus operations and integrating sustainability in research and teaching.