We argue that there is a gap between software engineering cultivated in the universities and industrial software development. We believe that it is possible to get academia and industry closer by starting projects that will require solution of non-trivial scientific tasks from one side and long-term commitment to create a product out of this research solutions from the other side. We illustrate our position on a real-world example of collaboration between an American company Relativity Technologies and research teams from St.Petersburg and Novosibirk State Universities. We also point out that the current economic situation in Russia presents unique opportunity for international projects.