It’s beach season across Michigan and the country. The lure of cool water, hot sand and chilling out on a beach blanket is almost irresistible for most people in July and August.
But beaches can be dangerous playgrounds. According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, about 100 people drown in the Great Lakes each year.
An Upper Peninsula start-up called SwimSmart is working to address that. And it’s making waves throughout Michigan, the Midwest and beyond.
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Jacob Soter, SwimSmartJacob SoterIts co-founder, Jacob Soter, has even received the Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium’s Superhero of the Year award for advancing drowning prevention.
SwimSmart is an automated beach warning light system that delivers real-time National Weather Service (NWS) warnings, replacing outdated manual flag systems that are hard to see or update.
SwimSmart is now being used at some three dozen beaches around the country, including in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and even in Ontario, Canada. SwimSmart tailors its system to the unique hazards of each beach while maintaining the same look and feel.
The core technology monitors water conditions from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service data. It works like a fire alarm, explains Soter.
"There are alarms, warning lights and other tools to alert the public and beach staff to dangerous situations. The system can also notify first responders to emergencies and empower swimmers to swim smarter and know how to prevent drowning," Soter says.
SwimSmart technology includes beach traffic lights, rescue stations, audible alarms, call boxes and call routing, signage, mobile installations and stream and burst cameras to enable beach managers to better monitor their beaches.
SwimSmart also enables onsite beach staff to participate in emergency response with geo-located life ring cabinets that trigger 911 alerts. It cuts emergency response times from 10-15 minutes to under a minute, preventing drownings in high-risk areas like Lake Michigan and providing tourism-dependent communities with enhanced safety.
The system has already intervened in a variety of emergency situations, from medical emergencies to lost people, to actual water-based rescues, Soter says.
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Mackinac County 911 and Emergency ManagementSwimSmart technology in play along a Lake Michigan beach in Mackinac County.The Mackinac County Water Safety Review Team installed a SwimSmart system along the U.S. 2 Dunes Beach, just east of the Dune Shores Resort, in 2023. It’s an area used by many beach visitors during the summer season.
“The Swim Smart station has been a presence of safety and a reminder to the many beach visitors of the potential hazards that could be present while swimming in Lake Michigan,” says Bryce Tracy, director of Mackinac County
911 and emergency management.
The SwimSmart signage has been a welcome addition to keep swimmers safe during and outside of life-guarding hours at North Beach in Manistee, says a lifeguard representative. “The lifeguards have unanimously agreed that this technology aids them in their ability to keep patrons safe and keep beach goers informed.”
How it came about
SwimSmart is Soter’s brainchild. His system was born as a student project — part of the Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation (MTEC) SmartZone — when he was studying electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University.
Originally from Monroe, Michigan, Soter had spent part of his growing-up years in Florida, where flag warning systems were standard on beaches. He’d seen first-hand their many deficiencies. And he recognized the need for a beach safety net on the dangerous Great Lakes beaches.
As an engineer with an interest in technology, he naturally turned to a technological solution.
Soter went on to earn an MBA at Tech and, turning down a job offer from General Motors, he chose to apply his electrical engineering know-how to developing the automated SwimSmart technology and his MBA skills to growing it into a business.
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Jacob Soter, SwimSmartSwimSmart technology is being used in beaches across the Midwest, including this one in Racine, Wisconsin.He founded SwimSmart Technology LLC with his faculty advisor, Andrew Barnard.
A $570,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and ainvestments from the MTEC SmartZone and the Innovate Marquette SmartZone got the business moving.
“From its inception to today, SmartZones continue to be SwimSmart’s most important partner,” Soter says.
InvestUP, a regional economic organization serving the U.P., with a mission to drive prosperity across the peninsula, upped the ante by choosing SwimSmart as one of the first investments in its new Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund. InvestUP also helped the company secure a $200,000 grant from the state of Michigan to fund the deployment of the system at Grand Haven State Park.
InvestUP has helped open doors for SwimSmart through its many contacts in the economic world, says Marty Fittante, chief executive officer of InvestUP. “This company is a good example of the type of opportunity we think comes from investing in startup companies for the region," he says.
Another major economic development organization partner has been the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The MEDC has supported SwimSmart through networking events, grant opportunities and — most importantly — the Michigan SmartZone network.
A 2025 grant from Michigan Rise will enable SwimSmart to continue perfecting its technology and expanding its reach. Michigan Rise is a wholly owned venture capital subsidiary of the Michigan State University Research Foundation, operated in partnership with MEDC. Michigan Rise provides early-stage funding to innovative companies that have the potential to transform industries and create jobs in Michigan.
SwimSmart’s first pilot customers were Frankfort, Michigan, and Muskegon, Michigan. Pilot systems were installed at Anchor Road Beach and Pere Marquette Beach in 2021. Frankfort adopted two solar-powered lights at its beach entrance and pier, while Muskegon used National Weather System-linked automation to combat rip current drownings.
The early feedback and testing data from Frankfort and Muskegon provided critical information to guide the product to where it is today. SwimSmart grew from a warning light into a more dynamic system full of safety features for beach managers to more effectively manage their resources.
“Grand Haven State Park was our boldest and most challenging deployment to date,” says Soter, “and a lot was learned along the way. “
“The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division successfully implemented the new electronic beach safety notification system in Grand Haven State Park during the 2024 season, enhancing water safety and emergency response,” says Andrew LundBorg, park supervisor. “During its first season, the system was activated in response to emergency situations and contributed to improved coordination and quicker response times from first responders.”
SwimSmart designs are iterative, with each version improved by carefully considering the feedback from the beach authorities and communities. “With innovation, everything is a first, and learning step by step is the path to forward progress.” Soter explains.
Future plans
SwimSmart is based in Marquette. As the company expands, it plans to keep its signage manufacturing in the U.P.
“We're committed to ensuring that a portion of our product line is manufactured where the product originated — in the Upper Peninsula,” Soter says.
"We're also an engineering/solutions company. There's no better resource for quality engineers than Michigan Tech, and we intend on heavily utilizing its talent pipeline to build our team for years to come," he explains.
SwimSmart systems cost from tens of thousands to millions of dollars per project, depending on setup and beach size, construction costs. An annual service plan provides SwimSmart management of system operations, relieving beaches of complex equipment management.
SwimSmart is now in talks with some of the largest beaches in the U.S. and globally, expecting installations in Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, and more. With $450,000 in investment funding, it aims to develop new and improved hardware designs, advanced software and AI-driven forecasting, and continue building partnerships with meteorologists and municipalities.
Soter sees nothing but progress ahead.
“From sophisticated public safety platforms that will forever change some of the largest beaches in the country, to cutting edge forecasting models to evolve how we perceive coastal dangers; SwimSmart is in a strong position moving forwarda," Soter says. "From the lessons learned in water safety, we seek to expand into broader weather and environmental safety applications such as water quality, small watercraft, flooding, lightning, tornadoes, and more.”
Jennifer Donovan is a reporter with more than 40 years of experience on daily newspapers, magazines and university writing and editing. She is retired as director of news and media relations at Michigan Technological University and lives in Houghton.