The author considers Great Britain as one of the few developed countries with large reserves of hydrocarbon raw materials and compares two models of economic development: one relying on the exploitation of energy resources and the other – based on innovations. He concludes that it is incorrect to contrast the former as inefficient with the latter as efficient. It is well documented that these two models complement each other on the condition that the fuel and energy complex takes advantage of the latest scientific and technological achievements, is oriented to high value-added processing of primary resources and to the export of high value-added products, which is particularly important for Russia. In the long run, as the natural resources are gradually exhausted, the economic growth will depend more and more on innovations – the only inexhaustible resource of mankind.