Chinese state-owned firms should step up efforts on innovation to ensure a sustainable development, Li Rongrong, director of China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said here Saturday.

The economic globalization trend is deepening and the world pattern is in the process of great shifts since the break-out of the financial crisis. Companies need to be forward-looking and innovative to be competitive, Li said at a Sino-Swedish CEO innovation summit held here.

There are currently 126 centrally-administered SOEs under the SASAC, including many industry leaders like China Mobile and PetroChina.

China's central SOEs registered a combined profit of 797.7 billion yuan (116.8 billion U.S. dollars) last year.