Adam Flanagan created Future Summits when he was 14 to address the need for technology events catered towards Generation Z. Now 18, he joined Harry Beard, 20, and Alex Daillance, 23, to co-found Future Labs, a company that “[bridges] the gap between leading brands and young people.”

Well-established as an expert on Gen Z, having given a TEDx Talk on this cohort which includes most current college students, Beard is the head of operations at Future Labs and founded OPEN Marketing at age 17. Beard was mentioned on Ernst and Young’s “Founders Under 30” list.

Chief Brand Officer Alexandre (Millinsky) Daillance co-founded the fashion label NASASEASONS at 17, with his pieces being worn by stars such as Beyoncé, LeBron James and Zendaya. Daillance was featured in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for 2019 in the Art & Style category.

Future Labs recently launched Prospect 100, which strives to find the top 100 international Gen Z talent in music, design, tech and engineering. Their first event, the P100 Global Music Competition, attracted more than 1,000 applicants aged 21 and younger from 41 countries.

Judges included rappers Theophilus London, Rico Nasty and iann dior. Industry executives also acted as judges, such as Emma Banks of the Creative Arts Agency (who has worked with artists like Kanye West, Lorde and Katy Perry), Migos’ manager Danny Zook and Guy Holmes, the founder and CEO of Gut Records.

“While we are based in the U.K., our team is global and our outreach and network is global as well,” Beard said.

Each judge received a set of songs appropriate for their native language or preferred genre. Despite the language differences that come with a global competition, Beard emphasized that they aren’t an impediment to appreciating musical talent. “Language barriers are being removed in music all the time … music is one of those things where you don’t necessarily need to understand the words that are being said to you to still like the piece,” he said.

“I’m French and I knew I liked the Beatles when I was five-years-old and I didn’t know anything about the English language,” Daillance agreed. “So you don’t need to speak the language to like the song.”

The 20 judges each picked their five favorite contestants, compiling a list of the top 100 artists, which became Prospect 100’s first Top 100 List of “best youth talents aged 21 and under.” The top 20 artists were featured on Prospect 100’s Instagram page starting on June 15 and spectators were encouraged to vote for their top 5, with each like on a post serving as a vote for the artist. Voting closed June 19 at 7 p.m. EST.

“Not only is it a great platform to make sure each person gets one vote (because you need an account to vote), it’s a great platform to help our artists build their own platform because hopefully we’ll be able to share our network,” Beard said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to grow their own platforms.”

On June 26, the top five artists and overall winner will be announced. The overall competition winner will receive a six-month mentorship from Holmes, who managed Stevie Wonder, directed Michael Jackson’s comeback and discovered, developed and launched artists like U2, Jessie J and David Guetta, among others.

Runners-up will each get mentorships from either Zook, The Black Eyed Peas manager Polo Molina, Preye Crooks of A&R Columbia Records, or Josh Marshall, manager of Smokepurpp and Lil Mosey. All five will also receive a membership to DITTO to upload music to all major streaming sites worldwide.

Interested in making Prospect 100’s Top 100 for tech, engineering or design? Details on their tech competition will roll out after results of the P100 Global Music Competition and is scheduled for next month, with the design competition in August.