When Shanghai INESA held its first technology meeting in 2010, a board erected at the door of the meeting room had almost nothing to display as there were no "decent" quality products at that time.
But things became different when the instruments and electronics products manufacturer held its second technology meeting two years later.
"We not only had new products, but also a whole set of solutions," said Wang Qiang, chairman of the state-owned enterprise (SOE) in east China's business hub Shanghai.
The company, founded in 1960, is shifting from traditional electronics production to new industries such as smart city construction and the Internet of Things.
At the end of 2015, after INESA acquired some private firms, its mixed-ownership subsidiaries accounted for 37.3 percent of assets and 56.4 percent of profits.
These changes reflect the substantial reforms in local SOEs in recent years in Shanghai, a city which has long taken the lead in such reforms, in policies, programs and practice.
SOE reforms play a vital role in the country's economic restructuring. Local SOEs account for about 47 percent of all the country's SOE assets, according to statistics released by the Finance Ministry last month.
In the first half of 2016, the total revenue and profit of local SOEs in Shanghai reached 1.4 trillion yuan (213 billion U.S.dollars) and 149 billion yuan respectively, both growing faster than the national average, according to official statistics.
Progress has also been made with other SOE reforms to boost innovation in Shanghai.
At Shanghai International Port Group, 16,000 employees (about 72 percent of staff) hold a total of 410 million shares (1.8 percent of the company).
"The staff used to care more about their own salaries than company profits. Now they pay more attention to the corporate operation and management," said Yan Jun, president of the state-owned enterprise.
Shanghai SOE reforms and performance have attracted investors. Late last month, an asset management company raised 15 billion yuan for an exchange-traded fund tracking an index of Shanghai SOEs, the first of its kind in Shanghai.
Shanghai will continue to make breakthroughs in capital management and accelerate the orderly flow of state-owned capital, said Jin Xingming, director of the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Home to China's first free trade zone, Shanghai saw 6.7 percent growth in H1, the same as the national rate, according to official statistics.
Indicative of its restructuring progress, the tertiary sector accounted for more than 70 percent of the Shanghai's gross domestic product for the first time. Financial, information, and creative industries all showed double-digit growth.
"Innovation-driven development has brought more positive impact to Shanghai's economy," said Shen Xiaochu, head of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission.
