diff --git a/cmake/OpenCVDetectInferenceEngine.cmake b/cmake/OpenCVDetectInferenceEngine.cmake
index ceb7b7989c..9af1051fa0 100644
--- a/cmake/OpenCVDetectInferenceEngine.cmake
+++ b/cmake/OpenCVDetectInferenceEngine.cmake
@@ -135,9 +135,9 @@ endif()
 
 if(INF_ENGINE_TARGET)
   if(NOT INF_ENGINE_RELEASE)
-    message(WARNING "InferenceEngine version has not been set, 2021.1 will be used by default. Set INF_ENGINE_RELEASE variable if you experience build errors.")
+    message(WARNING "InferenceEngine version has not been set, 2021.2 will be used by default. Set INF_ENGINE_RELEASE variable if you experience build errors.")
   endif()
-  set(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE "2021010000" CACHE STRING "Force IE version, should be in form YYYYAABBCC (e.g. 2020.1.0.2 -> 2020010002)")
+  set(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE "2021020000" CACHE STRING "Force IE version, should be in form YYYYAABBCC (e.g. 2020.1.0.2 -> 2020010002)")
   set_target_properties(${INF_ENGINE_TARGET} PROPERTIES
     INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "HAVE_INF_ENGINE=1;INF_ENGINE_RELEASE=${INF_ENGINE_RELEASE}"
   )
diff --git a/modules/dnn/perf/perf_net.cpp b/modules/dnn/perf/perf_net.cpp
index 600193915d..929beb2ec5 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/perf/perf_net.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/perf/perf_net.cpp
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ PERF_TEST_P_(DNNTestNetwork, YOLOv3)
     if (backend == DNN_BACKEND_INFERENCE_ENGINE_NGRAPH && target == DNN_TARGET_OPENCL_FP16)
         throw SkipTestException("Test is disabled in OpenVINO 2020.4");
 #endif
-#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_EQ(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
+#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_GE(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
     if (target == DNN_TARGET_MYRIAD)
         throw SkipTestException("");
 #endif
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ PERF_TEST_P_(DNNTestNetwork, YOLOv4_tiny)
 {
     if (backend == DNN_BACKEND_HALIDE)
         throw SkipTestException("");
-#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_EQ(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
+#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_GE(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
     if (target == DNN_TARGET_MYRIAD)
         throw SkipTestException("");
 #endif
@@ -276,9 +276,9 @@ PERF_TEST_P_(DNNTestNetwork, Inception_v2_Faster_RCNN)
     if (backend == DNN_BACKEND_INFERENCE_ENGINE_NN_BUILDER_2019)
         throw SkipTestException("Test is disabled in OpenVINO 2019R2");
 #endif
-#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_EQ(2021010000)
-    if (backend == DNN_BACKEND_INFERENCE_ENGINE_NGRAPH && target == DNN_TARGET_MYRIAD)
-        throw SkipTestException("Test is disabled in OpenVINO 2021.1 / MYRIAD");
+#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_GE(2021010000)
+    if (target == DNN_TARGET_MYRIAD)
+        throw SkipTestException("Test is disabled in OpenVINO 2021.1+ / MYRIAD");
 #endif
     if (backend == DNN_BACKEND_HALIDE ||
         (backend == DNN_BACKEND_INFERENCE_ENGINE_NN_BUILDER_2019 && target != DNN_TARGET_CPU) ||
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/op_inf_engine.hpp b/modules/dnn/src/op_inf_engine.hpp
index bb9563f4ac..f29af3e0b1 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/op_inf_engine.hpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/op_inf_engine.hpp
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@
 #define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2020_3 2020030000
 #define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2020_4 2020040000
 #define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2021_1 2021010000
+#define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2021_2 2021020000
 
 #ifndef INF_ENGINE_RELEASE
-#warning("IE version have not been provided via command-line. Using 2021.1 by default")
-#define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2021_1
+#warning("IE version have not been provided via command-line. Using 2021.2 by default")
+#define INF_ENGINE_RELEASE INF_ENGINE_RELEASE_2021_2
 #endif
 
 #define INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_GT(ver) (((INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) / 10000) > ((ver) / 10000))
diff --git a/modules/dnn/test/test_darknet_importer.cpp b/modules/dnn/test/test_darknet_importer.cpp
index a47e771084..0ecec8c49b 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/test/test_darknet_importer.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/test/test_darknet_importer.cpp
@@ -625,7 +625,7 @@ TEST_P(Test_Darknet_nets, YOLOv4_tiny)
         target == DNN_TARGET_CPU ? CV_TEST_TAG_MEMORY_512MB : CV_TEST_TAG_MEMORY_1GB
     );
 
-#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_EQ(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
+#if defined(INF_ENGINE_RELEASE) && INF_ENGINE_VER_MAJOR_GE(2021010000)  // nGraph compilation failure
     if (target == DNN_TARGET_MYRIAD)
         applyTestTag(CV_TEST_TAG_DNN_SKIP_IE_MYRIAD, CV_TEST_TAG_DNN_SKIP_IE_VERSION);
 #endif