Fano manifolds, i.e., complex projective manifolds having positive first Chern class, play a key role in higher dimensional algebraic geometry. The positivity condition on the first Chern class has far reaching geometric and arithmetic implications. For instance, Fano manifolds are covered by rational curves, and families of Fano manifolds over one dimensional bases always admit holomorphic sections. In recent years, there has been great effort towards defining suitable higher analogues of the Fano condition. Higher Fano manifolds are expected to enjoy stronger versions of several of the nice properties of Fano manifolds. For instance, they should be covered by higher dimensional rational varieties, and families of higher Fano manifolds over higher dimensional bases should admit meromorphic sections (modulo Brauer obstruction). In this talk, I will discuss a possible notion of higher Fano manifolds in terms of positivity of higher Chern characters, and describe special geometric features of these manifolds.