At the China Internet Conference in 2010, Zhou Hongyi, founder of the software company Qihoo 360, spoke of wei chuangxin, micro-innovation. Chinese Wikipedia dates the first use of the term to this speech. For his 360 team, he explained, borrowing an existing business model in a practical way, improving a product’s functions and making its interface more attractive all counted as micro-innovation.
“When I speak of micro-innovation, I stress the ‘micro,'” Zhou later told Tencent’s technology site. A small point that moves users “is a big thing for the user. That is micro-innovation.”