BEIJING - China's state assets regulator and the Ministry of Science and Technology signed a cooperation agreement Wednesday to encourage innovation in centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The SOEs invested more than 380 billion yuan ($58.1 billion) in research and development in 2016, and have seen average annual growth of over 20 percent in the past few years.

These enterprises own 80 national key laboratories which account for nearly half of the total number.

"The central SOEs are playing an increasingly important role in technological innovation," Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said supportive policies will be rolled out to encourage central SOEs to innovate more.