To get Intellectual Property in Pocket City 2, build Space Centers (1 IP per day each) and a Technology Center (5 IP per day), research Quantum Computing while you have a University (+1 IP per day), and take quests from Ethan the Educator, whose default reward is IP. You can’t buy Intellectual Property anywhere, so every point has to come from buildings, research or quests. And it gates AI-Optimized Economy, the research that doubles tax income, at a price of 250 IP.
This guide answers one question: how to build up Intellectual Property (and the research points you spend with it) as fast as the game allows. For zoning, money and levelling basics, start with our Pocket City 2 ultimate guide to money and levelling up. All numbers below were checked on October 28, 2026 against the fan wiki, store listings and the developer’s own pages, with the source named next to each one.
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- Space Center: 1 Intellectual Property per day each, and several stack (3 Space Centers = 3 IP a day), according to the Pocket City 2 wiki.
- Technology Center: 5 IP per day, the biggest single source on the wiki’s list.
- Quantum Computing research (15 research points): +1 IP per day if at least one University exists. It’s a flat bonus, so a second University adds nothing.
- Educator quests: Ethan’s quests pay IP by default, but only if you have $18,000 or more in cash when the quest is generated.
- Don’t sell it: IP sells for $10,000 a unit at the Shipping Dock, but you can’t buy it back.
- Research points come from levelling up, quests, disasters, and the notepads hidden inside buildings in free roam.
What Intellectual Property does in Pocket City 2
Intellectual Property is one of Pocket City 2’s resources, alongside wood, ore and metal. The official Pocket City 2 info page sums the system up: natural resources “can be harvested for upgrades, research, and income.” Unlike most of them, IP can’t be bought. The wiki lists two uses:
- Unlocking research. Eight research projects need IP on top of research points, 273 IP in total.
- Selling. At a Shipping Dock or Cargo Train Station, IP sells for a base $10,000 per unit. The Foreign Relations research improves the price.
Seven of those eight projects cost 1 to 10 IP each (23 IP together). The eighth, AI-Optimized Economy, costs 250 IP. So the real question is how to reach 250.
How to get Intellectual Property in Pocket City 2: every source
| Source | Intellectual Property | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Space Center | 1 per day, per building | Listed with the wiki’s Education buildings; production stacks |
| Technology Center | 5 per day, per building | Listed on the wiki’s IP page; its unlock isn’t documented there |
| Quantum Computing research | +1 per day, citywide | 15 research points, Curriculum Improvements first, and at least one University |
| Educator quests (Ethan) | Usually 1 per quest (formula below) | $18,000+ cash when the quest is generated |
| City Competition quests | Varies | The wiki says some of these quests are set to award IP |
| Buying | Not possible | No shop or dock sells it |
Two notes on the buildings. The wiki’s Technology Center (5 IP a day) is a different entry from the Technology Tower, the building you unlock at relationship level 50 with Ethan, which gives lifelong education for 30,000 citizens. Also, one App Store reviewer of Pocket City 2+ reported a bug with “the technology center not generating intellectual property.” After you build one, check that your IP count goes up by 5 the next day.
Each quest giver has a default reward: Workers give Metal, Ethan the Educator gives Intellectual Property. Image: Codebrew Games
Educator quests and the $18,000 rule
The wiki’s quest system page, written from Pocket City 2+ version 1.2, explains how quests choose their rewards. Each quest giver has a default reward: Ethan the Educator (found at the Elementary School and University) gives Intellectual Property, the Police and Healthcare give research points, and Workers give Metal. The catch is a cash check. If your city has less than $18,000 on hand when a quest is generated, the quest pays cash instead, and topping up your balance later doesn’t change it back.
The IP amount scales slowly with city level. The wiki’s formula is (50 + 2 × city level) ÷ 250, rounded, with a minimum of 1 and a cap of 5. By that formula, an Educator quest pays 1 IP up to about city level 160 and 2 IP above that. Quests are a nice top-up, but buildings do the real work.
The fastest way to get Intellectual Property
- Research Curriculum Improvements (2 research points), then Quantum Computing (15). Quantum Computing costs no IP and pays it back every day, so it’s the first IP-related research to pick. Make sure a University is standing, or the bonus does nothing.
- Build Space Centers as soon as you unlock them (the wiki lists them with the Education buildings). Each adds 1 IP a day, and they stack.
- Add a Technology Center if you have one available. At 5 IP a day it’s worth as much as five Space Centers.
- Keep at least $18,000 in the bank so Educator quests pay IP rather than cash, and accept them whenever Ethan offers one.
- Spend the first 23 IP on the cheap research, then save for the big one. Don’t let a Shipping Dock sell your stockpile (more on that below).
Here’s how long 250 IP takes from buildings and Quantum Computing alone. This is our own arithmetic from the wiki’s rates, not counting quest IP:
| Setup (with Quantum Computing + a University) | IP per day | Days to 250 IP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Space Center | 2 | 125 |
| 3 Space Centers | 4 | 63 |
| 1 Technology Center | 6 | 42 |
| 1 Technology Center + 3 Space Centers | 9 | 28 |
The lesson from the table: extra buildings shorten the wait far more than quests do.
What to spend Intellectual Property on
These are the eight research projects that cost IP, with costs from the wiki’s research page (last edited August 2026):
| Research | IP | Research points | Needs first | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon Capture Plant | 1 | 5 | Green Energy | Unlocks the Carbon Capture Plant |
| Entrance Fees | 1 | 5 | Recreation Novelty | $1 for every 4 citizens a recreation building entertains |
| Conflict Resolution Training | 1 | 5 | Community Mentoring | +1% crime safety per relationship level with Officer Olivia, up to 20% |
| Bank Investments | 2 | 5 | Bank Income | Investment Bank earns 0.5% more per day; daily cap +50% |
| Space Mining | 3 | 10 | None | Space Centers also produce Rare Ore |
| Mega Project Employment | 5 | 25 | Hiring Bonus | +10,000 jobs per Mega Project |
| Hiring Bonus | 10 | 20 | Four Day Work Week | +200% jobs provided |
| AI-Optimized Economy | 250 | 15 | Quantum Computing | Doubles income from taxes |
A sensible order, based on those effects:
- Hiring Bonus first if jobs are short. A +200% boost to Jobs Provided goes a long way against unemployment, and it’s needed for Mega Project Employment.
- Space Mining early if you already run Space Centers. For 3 IP, the buildings you built for IP also start producing Rare Ore, which other research needs (Auto Upgrades costs 200, Global Trade Deals 250).
- The 1 IP projects whenever they fit. They’re cheap, but each needs its own prerequisite.
- AI-Optimized Economy as the long goal. It’s worth it once taxes are a big part of your income. To compare: 250 IP would sell for about $2.5 million at base price. If your taxes bring in $50,000 a day (just an example), doubling them earns that back in about 50 days and keeps paying after that.
Older guides may list slightly different costs. LevelWinner’s July 2023 research list shows Mega Project Employment at 24 research points and has no AI-Optimized Economy entry at all. Codebrew’s May 2024 update added “research options,” per the official blog and App Store notes for version 1.065 (May 27, 2024), so check the in-game Research tab if a number doesn’t match.
How to get research points in Pocket City 2
Every research project costs research points, IP projects included (90 points for all eight). The wiki and two independent guides agree on these sources:
| Source | Research points | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Levelling up | Awarded on level-up | The wiki doesn’t give a per-level amount |
| Police and Healthcare quests | Default reward | Same $18,000 cash rule as Educator quests |
| Notepads in free roam | A few each | Sparkling notepads inside building interiors |
| Disasters | Up to 2-10 per disaster | Only when buildings are destroyed (table below) |
| Smarty Pants starting perk | +25 at the start | New cities only; Expert has no perks |
Android Police says that inside nearly every business and service there’s “a mystery crate or a couple of research points,” so walking through buildings while money builds up is time well spent. LevelWinner’s beginner guide describes the notepads as sparkling and also lists Educator quests and textbooks from gifts as sources. The wiki’s newer quest table says Educator quests default to IP, so the reward may differ between versions.
A Volcano unlocks at city level 20 and pays up to 3 research points when it destroys buildings. Image: Codebrew Games
Disasters as a research point farm
Disasters pay research points only when they destroy buildings, and the figures on the wiki’s disasters page are maximums:
| Disaster | Unlocks at | Research points (max) |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | City level 1 | 2 |
| Volcano | Level 20 | 3 |
| Flood | Level 30 | 3 |
| Thunder Storm | Level 45 | 5 |
| Earthquake | Level 60 | 4 |
| Meteor Strike | Level 80 | 5 |
| Kaiju | Level 100 + a Monolith | 10 |
The game starts a disaster as soon as you pick it from the Disaster Events menu, with no confirmation and no way to stop it early (an Obelisk can end one early). The game chooses where it strikes, so save before you try this in a city you care about. Thunder Storm and Meteor Strike pay more per event than Earthquake, even though Earthquake unlocks later.
Smarty Pants vs Ahead of the Curve
The wiki’s starting perks page warns that Ahead of the Curve, which starts your city at level 20, “does not award research points normally gained when leveling up.” For a research-focused city, Smarty Pants (+25 research points) is the safer pick, if the game offers it: it’s one of seven perks and you get three at random. That covers Curriculum Improvements, Quantum Computing and Four Day Work Week (20 points), so Quantum Computing is ready the moment you build a University.
Don’t sell your Intellectual Property by accident
The Shipping Dock’s Auto-Sell clears out extra resources at the end of each day. LevelWinner notes you can set how many of each resource to keep. If Intellectual Property shows up in your Auto-Sell list, set its keep amount at or above your savings target. $10,000 a unit is a nice payout, but the only way to replace sold IP is to produce it again.
Which version this applies to
Pocket City 2 is out in three places: the original premium app (App Store, $4.99, version 1.085; Google Play, $4.99, updated October 17, 2025), the Steam version for Windows and Mac (March 30, 2025, $6.99), and Pocket City 2+ on Apple Arcade (version 1.2.3 on October 21, 2026, with Halloween buildings). IP isn’t new: LevelWinner’s July 2023 guide already lists IP costs for the original mobile game, and a Pocket City 2+ reviewer mentions it too. Some wiki details, like the quest formulas, come from the Pocket City 2+ code, so small numbers can differ on other versions.
If you also play the original game, our Pocket City tips and strategies cover its simpler research system. For more management sims, try our TheoTown strategy guide, the best city builder games for Android and iOS, or our Coffee Inc 2 best blend and starting city guide.
FAQ
Can you buy Intellectual Property in Pocket City 2?
No. According to the wiki, Intellectual Property can’t be purchased. The sources the wiki lists are Space Centers, the Technology Center, the Quantum Computing research and quests. You can sell IP but not buy it back.
Does building more Universities give more Intellectual Property?
No. Quantum Computing adds 1 IP a day if at least one University exists, and the wiki says the bonus doesn’t grow with more Universities. For more IP, build more Space Centers instead, since those stack.
Why are my Educator quests giving cash instead of Intellectual Property?
Your city probably had less than $18,000 when the quest was generated. Below that amount, quests switch to a cash reward. Keep more cash on hand and the next Educator quest should offer IP.
Is AI-Optimized Economy worth 250 Intellectual Property?
Usually, once taxes make up a big share of your income, because it doubles tax income for as long as you keep it switched on. Earlier on, the cheap projects (Hiring Bonus, Space Mining and the 1 IP projects) do more for 23 IP than a half-finished 250 IP savings goal.
Sources: Pocket City 2 Wiki: Intellectual Property, Research, Quest System, Disasters, Starting Perks (checked October 28, 2026); Codebrew Games: Pocket City 2 info page; Pocket City Blog, May 2024 update; App Store listings for Pocket City 2 and Pocket City 2+; Google Play; Steam; LevelWinner; Android Police.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
