The Hub8 Connect March 2026 session brought together founders, operators, and members of Cheltenham’s cyber tech community for a discussion with real depth.
Jo Miller, Chair of CyNam and National Security Officer at Microsoft, led a discussion drawn from her ongoing research series, The Age of Empires. The talk covered the restructuring of global power, and why the implications for UK businesses are more immediate than most people realise.
From superpowers to hyper-powers
Jo opened with a framing that set the tone for the rest of the session: we are at a “stratospheric inflection point.” Traditional nation-state empires are giving way to a smaller number of vastly more concentrated power structures. Hyper-powers. The question she put to the room was not simply which power rises next, but whether the very nature of empire is changing.
The United States: decline or consolidation?
The debate around American power has run for decades. Jo pushed the room to think more carefully about whether what looks like decline might be something more deliberate: a consolidation of control over the resources and systems that define influence in the 21st century.
US positioning relative to global oil supply chains, including Iran, Venezuela, and the Middle East, was cited as evidence that the picture is more complex than simple retreat. The Greenland and Arctic strategy, often framed in headlines as eccentric, looks very different when viewed through the lens of national security, resource access, and surveillance capability. Control of energy flows, Jo argued, could give the US significant leverage over China regardless of how the broader balance of power shifts.
China, the UK, and a century of complexity
Jo gave careful attention to the UK’s relationship with China, one that runs deeper and more conflicted than contemporary news cycles suggest. The UK was among the first Western powers to recognise the People’s Republic in 1950. But the relationship has also been shaped by the Opium Wars, a period China still refers to as “The Century of Humiliation.” That history, Jo argued, continues to shape the deep structure of geopolitical distrust between China and the West.
Europe: the emerging counterweight
One of the most immediately actionable parts of the session focused on Europe. The EU’s dispersed structure has historically made it slow to act as a unified force. What is changing, Jo suggested, is the emergence of a core group of six major economies: Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. This “E6” bloc represents the largest financial and military powers in the region and has the potential to move faster than full EU consensus allows. Its priorities signal something increasingly empire-like in structure, even if not in name:
- Stronger defence coordination
- Greater economic independence
- Securing critical supply chains in raw materials and technology
- Reducing reliance on external powers, particularly the US, Russia, and China
Jo outlined four possible global structures worth sitting with:
- US-led hyperpower dominance
- A multipolar system of US, China, European, and Russian blocs
- Europe as a genuine counterweight
- Russian expansion as a destabilising force across the continent
Each carries different implications for businesses operating in global markets.
The UK’s position
Throughout the session, the UK’s place in all of this ran as an undercurrent. Historically, the UK acted as a bridge between the US and Europe. Post-Brexit, that role needs redefining. Jo did not prescribe an answer, but the implicit challenge was clear: the UK must position itself strategically within a shifting landscape, rather than waiting for the landscape to settle around it.
Why this conversation belongs at Hub8
It would be easy to frame a discussion on global power structures as abstract or academic. Jo made it anything but. If control of energy and supply chains is the new measure of geopolitical power, then every business that depends on those supply chains — which is to say almost every business — has a stake in understanding how this plays out. The founders, operators, and innovators who make up the Hub8 community are not insulated from these shifts. In many cases, they are building directly into the sectors most affected: cyber security, AI, defence technology, and digital infrastructure.
That is precisely what Hub8 Connect exists for. Not easy answers, but the right people and the right conversations in the same room.
Read more from Jo
Jo is turning her March presentation into a series of articles on Substack, adding further context on the roles of Australia, India, and the UK within this shifting global order. You can follow the series here: substack.com/@joannefmiller
Want to be part of the next conversation?
Hub8 Connect continues next month. Keep an eye on our events page for details.
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