**2. Human capital in Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 revolution**

Human capital is considered critical for the success of organisations in today's world, however in Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 revolution, researchers and management practitioners are already predicting this scenario to take a different shape, given the characteristics of the changes anticipated. The characteristics of human capital that are key to success are education, experience and knowledge that organisations need to tap into to achieve success in the competitive world. Human capital theory considers that knowledge brings greater cognitive skills to individuals, thus impelling their productivity and efficiency potential to develop activities [5, 10]. From the national perspective, human capital can be defined as:

"*Human capital can be defined as a set of knowledge, abilities and skills, used in activities, processes and services that contribute to stimulate economic growth*" [9].

However, from this [9] definition, the author coins the definition that matches human capital in an organisation as:

*A set of education, experience, knowledge and skills possessed by employees and that is used to create value for the success of the organisation*. In these two foregoing definitions, we can see how experience, knowledge, skills and education are critical for human capital in the organisations, which in essence underscore the importance and role of human capital in the Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 revolution.

Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 requires not only just workforce, but also human capital nurtured in competitive education systems that is well prepared for creative work environments. No organisations require physical and tangible humans, as the present and future seems to offer a plethora of challenges to organisations and humanity. Therefore, as humans embrace to usher in Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, it has become imperative for nations as well as organisations to embark on education systems that are more focused on knowledge beyond what the world currently preach. This may require teaching creativity to children at an early age (Early Childhood Education) right up to university levels. A move away from traditional education systems of writing, reading, cramming and memorising as mode of passing an examination that never produce thinkers, creators and ingenuity should be a thing of the past. Therefore, nations need to revolutionise their education systems that produce super humans capable of surviving in Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 revolution. Education revolutions require a national culture that is supportive to such initiatives from government, where the citizens feel they have something to contribute towards achieving Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 revolution goals. Hence, result in producing human capital that is capable to benefit Industry 4.0 revolution needs for Smart Manufacturing competitiveness.
