diff --git a/INSTALL.rst b/INSTALL.rst
index a32658ebbcdcea4c46d78d6f0b8287974c0cd71a..460551c99e6eab92a92ad77f14304a78ec337ef4 100644
--- a/INSTALL.rst
+++ b/INSTALL.rst
@@ -29,10 +29,10 @@ Prerequisites
 =============
 
 Building Kwant requires
- * `Python <https://www.python.org/>`_ 3.5 or above (Kwant 1.1 is the last
+ * `Python <https://www.python.org/>`_ 3.6 or above (Kwant 1.1 is the last
    version to support Python 2),
- * `NumPy <http://numpy.org/>`_ 1.11.0 or newer,
- * `SciPy <https://www.scipy.org/>`_ 0.17.0 or newer,
+ * `NumPy <http://numpy.org/>`_ 1.13.3 or newer,
+ * `SciPy <https://www.scipy.org/>`_ 0.19.1 or newer,
  * `LAPACK <http://netlib.org/lapack/>`_ and `BLAS <http://netlib.org/blas/>`_,
    (For best performance we recommend the free `OpenBLAS
    <http://www.openblas.net/>`_ or the nonfree `MKL
@@ -43,19 +43,19 @@ a NumPy-like Python package optimized for very small arrays,
    C++.
 
 The following software is highly recommended though not strictly required:
- * `matplotlib <http://matplotlib.org/>`_ 1.5.1 or newer, for the module `kwant.plotter` and the tutorial,
- * `SymPy <http://sympy.org/>`_ 0.7.6 or newer, for the subpackage `kwant.continuum`.
+ * `matplotlib <http://matplotlib.org/>`_ 2.1.1 or newer, for the module `kwant.plotter` and the tutorial,
+ * `SymPy <http://sympy.org/>`_ 1.1.1 or newer, for the subpackage `kwant.continuum`.
  * `Qsymm <https://pypi.org/project/qsymm/>`_ 1.2.6 or newer, for the subpackage `kwant.qsymm`.
  * `MUMPS <http://graal.ens-lyon.fr/MUMPS/>`_, a sparse linear algebra library
    that will in many cases speed up Kwant several times and reduce the memory
    footprint.  (Kwant uses only the sequential, single core version
    of MUMPS.  The advantages due to MUMPS as used by Kwant are thus independent
    of the number of CPU cores of the machine on which Kwant runs.)
- * The `py.test testing framework <http://pytest.org/>`_ 2.8 or newer for running the
+ * The `py.test testing framework <http://pytest.org/>`_ 3.3.2 or newer for running the
    tests included with Kwant.
 
 In addition, to build a copy of Kwant that has been checked-out directly from
-version control, you will also need `Cython <http://cython.org/>`_ 0.22 or
+version control, you will also need `Cython <http://cython.org/>`_ 0.26.1 or
 newer.  You do not need Cython to build Kwant that has been unpacked from a
 source .tar.gz-file.
 
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.ubuntu b/docker/Dockerfile.ubuntu
index bca1da6d69d62419692587e54a2b18ad732fb0f7..f3c47513804e2a0472ac273c5b5a2b43320d02a7 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.ubuntu
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.ubuntu
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM ubuntu:16.04
+FROM ubuntu:18.04
 
 ENV LANG C.UTF-8
 ENV LC_ALL C.UTF-8
diff --git a/docker/kwant-stable-no-extras.yml b/docker/kwant-stable-no-extras.yml
index 99b2af168a075b1536b3cdd4234bbedc387b51fb..fd208eb56def218316bd97cc6e8813c6626fa03e 100644
--- a/docker/kwant-stable-no-extras.yml
+++ b/docker/kwant-stable-no-extras.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ name: kwant-stable-no-extras
 channels:
     - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-    - python=3.5
-    - numpy=1.11.0
-    - scipy=0.17  # No minor version because conda-forge has no 0.17.0
+    - python=3.6
+    - numpy=1.13.1
+    - scipy=0.19.1
     - tinyarray=1.2.0
     # Linear algebra libraraies
     - blas #=1.1 openblas
diff --git a/docker/kwant-stable.yml b/docker/kwant-stable.yml
index 5e16a86a5858063c7928a2833c81083e7a34924e..93decc70dc27de7192a8f4af6548207e8322c1e7 100644
--- a/docker/kwant-stable.yml
+++ b/docker/kwant-stable.yml
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ name: kwant-stable
 channels:
     - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-    - python=3.5
-    - numpy=1.11.0
-    - scipy=0.17  # No minor version because conda-forge has no 0.17.0
+    - python=3.6
+    - numpy=1.13.3
+    - scipy=0.19.1
     - tinyarray=1.2.0
-    - sympy=0.7.6
-    - matplotlib=1.5.1
+    - sympy=1.1.1
+    - matplotlib=2.1.1
+    - qsymm=1.2.6
     # Linear algebra libraraies
     - mumps
     - blas #=1.1 openblas
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index cef8c9f545c81c4eb49868ff125cde816237c2ec..85cb54eb613e7de06db60ee17bb27647749a8d38 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ def maybe_add_numpy_include(exts):
 
 
 def main():
-    check_python_version((3, 5))
+    check_python_version((3, 6))
     check_versions()
 
     exts = collections.OrderedDict([
@@ -581,12 +581,12 @@ def main():
                     'build_ext': build_ext,
                     'test': test},
           ext_modules=exts,
-          install_requires=['numpy >= 1.11.0', 'scipy >= 0.17.0',
+          install_requires=['numpy >= 1.13.3', 'scipy >= 0.19.1',
                             'tinyarray >= 1.2'],
           extras_require={
               # The oldest versions between: Debian stable, Ubuntu LTS
-              'plotting': 'matplotlib >= 1.5.1',
-              'continuum': 'sympy >= 0.7.6',
+              'plotting': 'matplotlib >= 2.1.1',
+              'continuum': 'sympy >= 1.1.1',
               # qsymm is only packaged on PyPI
               'qsymm': 'qsymm >= 1.2.6',
           },