The Chinese government has asked the nation's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to sharpen innovation capabilities.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council have issued a joint document detailing reform plans of central SOEs' technology innovation drive, the Economic Information Daily reported on Wednesday.

SOEs have been asked to increase spending on research and development (R&D), make greater efforts on basic research and application of major technologies, according to the document.

Companies should put the R&D spending share of their sales revenue into business performance evaluations.

These measures are expected to support the country's drive to become an innovative and modernized economy.