Santos, Vítor Manuel Pereira Duarte dosSimões, Jaime Marques2025-11-192025-11-192025-11-06http://hdl.handle.net/10362/191041Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Science and Advanced Analytics, specialization in Data ScienceThis thesis explores the integration of quantum computing into Machine Learning (ML), aiming to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of quantum-enhanced models compared to classical approaches. As quantum technologies continue to develop, they offer the potential for solving complex computational problems more efficiently, particularly in fields requiring high-dimensional data processing. A literature review is conducted to contextualize current advancements in Quantum Machine Learning, highlighting theoretical benefits and existing practical limitations. This work investigates whether quantum methods, specifically the Quantum Support Vector Classifier (QSVC), can provide measurable improvements over its classical counterpart. The QSVC, implemented using IBM’s Qiskit ML library, replaces traditional kernel functions with quantum kernels computed via quantum circuits and feature maps, embedding classical data into a Hilbert space. The experimental portion of this thesis compares classical and quantum models on two distinct datasets: one from the healthcare domain and another from particle physics. Various parameters are tested in a constrained grid search due to the high computational demands of quantum circuits. Results indicate that while quantum models are significantly more resource-intensive, they can achieve comparable or even improved performance on data that has more complex relations between their variables. However, scalability remains a major challenge. This work concludes that although QSVC does not yet consistently outperform classical models, it offers advantages in specific contexts and lays the groundwork for identifying future use cases where quantum computing may offer a practical advantage in ML.engQuantum Machine LearningSupport Vector ClassifierQuantum Support Vector ClassifierPerformance EvaluationComparative AnalysisSDG 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructuremaster thesis204074533