# Paid for external data license

**URL:** <https://community.drivendata.org/t/paid-for-external-data-license/11528>\
**Category:** GEMS Prize Challenge\
**Created:** [September 19, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/paid-for-external-data-license/11528 "2026-09-19T03:27:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fishnchips](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/community.drivendata.org/fishnchips/32/1908_2.png) [@fishnchips](https://community.drivendata.org/u/fishnchips)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/paid-for-external-data-license/11528/1 "2026-09-19T03:27:41Z")

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Can we utilise paid for external data, eg if a subscription is required, but if the competition hosts can also access the data - provided they have purchased a license would that solution be allowed?

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**Author:** ![chrisk-dd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@chrisk-dd](https://community.drivendata.org/u/chrisk-dd)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/paid-for-external-data-license/11528/2 "2026-09-23T17:01:27Z")

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Hey @fishnchips -

Please refer to the [external data section of the problem description](https://www.drivendata.org/competitions/306/competition-doe-gems/page/967/#external-datasets):

> Participants are allowed to use any additional data sources, provided that the participants possess a license that permits the data to be used in this challenge **and shared with the sponsor for evaluation purposes.**