An economic planning official said Wednesday that Taiwan is playing a major role in the research and development of world technology. According to a technology industry report, Taiwan's cooperative patented inventions with other countries account for 52.2 percent of its total, far higher than the 43.9 percent in Switzerland, 30.4 in Singapore, and 4.8 percent in South Korea, said Hu Chung-ying, vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 shows that Taiwan has worked more closely with other countries, the United States in particular with which it produced 30 percent of its total number of cooperative projects, he said. The CEPD noted that the government has in recent years continued to encourage multinational enterprises to set up R&D centers in Taiwan to help upgrade the nation's competitive edge. Forty-three multinational enterprises had set up R&D centers in Taiwan as of the end of January 2010, according to the CEPD. 