The Taiwan branch of U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. showcased cloud computing applications created by local companies on Microsoft platforms, at a summit Tuesday in Taipei, with the aim of forging closer partnerships in a country known for its technology strength. At the Microsoft Taiwan event that featured remote server-enabled Internet applications and services, Jose Liao, a senior manager at Asus Taiwan, displayed what he called a 'Biking Map' on a tablet personal computer with a multi-touch screen and a global positioning system (GPS). The 'Biking Map' allows travelers to share photos and articles anywhere they have access to the Internet, and to show a trip timeline using Microsoft's Bing Maps, he said. In a presentation on how consultants can better advise clients on retirement wealth management, director of Acer Taiwan's marketing division Lawrence Lin displayed different charts and figures via a multi-touch computer screen. John Kalkman, a Microsoft vice president who has been in Taiwan for the past three months promoting stronger partnerships with local companies, showed a video that envisioned a digital future. In the digital world of the future, people will be able to read digital newspapers, store all their credit card information on one small card, communicate via real-time translation screens, and move images from a big screen to a hand-held device, the video demonstrated. 'I think it's possible to do that with a lot of collaboration, ' Kalkman said. 'We can't do what you just saw without a great vibrant ecosystem like there is here in Taiwan, ' he told an audience of over 500 representatives from local companies. Microsoft Taiwan hopes to work with Taiwanese companies to build a sound ecosystem for cloud computing, according to its general manager Davis Tsai. 'We alone cannot build such an ecosystem. It is important for us to work with our partners in Taiwan to achieve this, ' he said in his opening remarks. On the sidelines of the summit, Microsoft Taiwan also arranged meetings for its hardware and software partners to forge alliances with local companies. Microsoft will invest US$9.5 billion in research and development (R&D) this year, according to Tsai. 'Seventy percent of the R&D this year is being spent on cloud computing, while the ratio will increase to 90 percent next year,' he said. In the field of cloud computing, Microsoft now has 19 business partners in Taiwan, including Taiwan's largest telecom operator, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Microsoft has also formed alliances with government agencies and educational institutions in Taiwan. The Taiwan government recently unveiled a NT$24 billion investment plan to be rolled out over the next five years with the aim of boosting the country's industrial output in cloud computing to NT$1 trillion. 