diff --git a/dependencies.py b/dependencies.py
index 3a6db739df..1fda88650b 100755
--- a/dependencies.py
+++ b/dependencies.py
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ def _pyside(rev, marker=True):
 _QT_COMMENT = 'solution visualization for builtin discretizations'
 _PYTEST = 'pytest>=3.2'
 tests_require = [_PYTEST, 'pytest-cov', 'envparse', 'docker']
-install_requires = ['cython>=0.20.1', 'numpy>=1.8.1', 'scipy>=0.13.3', 'Sphinx>=1.4.0', 'docopt', 'Qt.py>=1.0.0b3']
-setup_requires = ['pytest-runner>=2.9', 'cython>=0.20.1', 'numpy>=1.8.1']
+install_requires = ['cython>=0.20.1', 'numpy>=1.8.1', 'scipy>=0.13.3', 'Sphinx>=1.4.0', 'docopt', 'Qt.py>=1.0.0b3', 'packaging']
+setup_requires = ['pytest-runner>=2.9', 'cython>=0.20.1', 'numpy>=1.8.1', 'packaging']
 install_suggests = {'ipython>=3.0': 'an enhanced interactive python shell',
                     'ipyparallel': 'required for pymor.parallel.ipython',
                     'matplotlib': 'needed for error plots in demo scipts',
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index ca2bea1df9..d225df93f0 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ Sphinx>=1.4.0
 cython>=0.20.1
 docopt
 numpy>=1.8.1
+packaging
 pytest-runner>=2.9
 scipy>=0.13.3
diff --git a/src/pymor/tools/mpi.py b/src/pymor/tools/mpi.py
index 00bb853b20..703b06894c 100644
--- a/src/pymor/tools/mpi.py
+++ b/src/pymor/tools/mpi.py
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
 
 import sys
 
+from packaging.version import Version
+
 from pymor.core.config import config
 from pymor.core.defaults import defaults
 from pymor.core.pickle import dumps, loads
@@ -64,14 +66,14 @@
     rank = comm.Get_rank()
     size = comm.Get_size()
     finished = False
-    mpi4py_version = list(map(int, mpi4py.__version__.split('.')))
-    if mpi4py_version >= [2, 0]:
+    mpi4py_version = Version(mpi4py.__version__)
+    if mpi4py_version == Version('2.0'):
         import pymor.core.pickle
         MPI.pickle.PROTOCOL = pymor.core.pickle.PROTOCOL
         MPI.pickle.loads = pymor.core.pickle.loads
         MPI.pickle.dumps = pymor.core.pickle.dumps
 else:
-    mpi4py_version = []
+    mpi4py_version = Version('0.0')
     rank = 0
     size = 1
     finished = True
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ def event_loop_settings(auto_launch=True):
     return {'auto_launch': auto_launch}
 
 
-if mpi4py_version >= [2, 0]:
+if mpi4py_version == Version('2.0'):
     def event_loop():
         """Launches an MPI-based event loop.