An employee works in a touch screen production workshop in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu province, on May 13, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) spent more on research and development (R&D) in 2020 amid efforts to boost innovation-driven development, according to the country's state-asset regulator.

Their R&D input grew 11.3 percent year on year, while R&D intensity, the percentage of revenue that is reinvested in R&D, rose to 2.55 percent, data from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council showed.

The R&D intensity of central industrial enterprises reached 3 percent.

Revenue of the central SOEs went down 1.9 percent year on year in 2020, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

Central SOEs have played a larger role in leading innovation efforts as well as actions to improve the industrial and supply chains. They have built more than 400 innovation platforms and promoted the coordination and development of small and medium-sized enterprises.