diff --git a/examples/java/jprol-example-life/pom.xml b/examples/java/jprol-example-life/pom.xml
index 688db6d1..3d53fa8c 100644
--- a/examples/java/jprol-example-life/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/java/jprol-example-life/pom.xml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
+        <maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>