On April 28th, 2025, Momentum’s Paula Whyte travelled to Lisbon for the latest HeadStart project partner meeting, hosted by the wonderful Portuguese partner, Inspiring Girls Portugal.
However, Paula’s arrival coincided with a major and unexpected power outage that swept across Portugal & Spain, plunging all of Lisbon into chaos. Public transport stalled, traffic lights went dark, cafés & shops shut their doors, and communications were disrupted. The outage created an atmosphere of uncertainty and disruption that was a striking reminder of how deeply we rely on energy infrastructure — and how fragile it can be.
Rather than let the disruption derail their plans, the Headstart team saw an opportunity. The blackout sparked conversations about AI’s energy demands and ethical responsibilities, leading them to revise the Headstart module on Ethics to include new content on the wider impact of AI, resource usage, and energy consumption. The unexpected event served as a powerful, real-time case study that grounded their work in immediate, real-world relevance and underscored how critical it is for future AI leaders to understand the broader social and environmental contexts in which technology operates.
Throughout Tuesday, the project partners convened in the heart of the city at the vibrant Casa do Impacto — a hub for social innovation and entrepreneurship, based in the historic Convento de São Pedro de Alcântara. The space offered the perfect environment for creativity, collaboration, and big-picture thinking — to refine project resources, share insights from their national contexts, and plan the next phases of their mentoring, networking and outreach activities.
The Headstart project remains committed to empowering young women with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking they need to lead the future of AI — and to do so ethically and sustainably.
Stay tuned for more updates as they continue building a more inclusive, ethical, and resilient AI future! www.headstart-ai.eu
