diff --git a/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/impl/CompilationContextImpl.groovy b/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/impl/CompilationContextImpl.groovy
index d7fb1848661b..1ac2f055a691 100644
--- a/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/impl/CompilationContextImpl.groovy
+++ b/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/impl/CompilationContextImpl.groovy
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ class CompilationContextImpl implements CompilationContext {
     }
     messages.info("Incremental compilation: " + options.incrementalCompilation)
     if (options.incrementalCompilation) {
+      System.setProperty("kotlin.incremental.compilation", "true")
       outputDirectoriesToKeep.add(dataDirName)
       outputDirectoriesToKeep.add(classesDirName)
     }