The more recent history of the CityRegion Aachen was marked by mining and textiles production. These have now been replaced by high-tech companies who are active in the fields of automotive engineering or life sciences. Avantis, located between Aachen and the Dutch town of Heerlen, is Europe's first cross-border industrial estate. The EBC Eurode Business Center – directly on the German-Dutch border between the towns of Herzogenrath and Kerkrade – is a further model in the European business activities of the CityRegion Aachen.

The Rur river in the District of Düren has always been the main axis and lifeline for the development of settlements and business in one of the earliest industrialised regions in Germany. The quality of the water in the Rur was decisive for the settlement of the paper industry as far back as the 16th century. It attracted new, modern lines of industry to the region and the District of Düren. These include mechanical engineering with equipment for paper production, automotive suppliers, textile and felt manufacturing as well as instrument engineering and PCB production.

The District of Euskirchen is a versatile location for business and industry with a high living and recreational standard thanks to its location, embedded as it is in the Eifel landscape. The district covers an area of 1,250 km² close to the economic centres of Cologne and Bonn as well as the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the East Belgian Cantons. The predominantly medium-sized businesses of its economy come from a wide variety of industries, with an above-average show of agriculture and forestry, the building trade and not least the hotel and restaurant trade as an indispensable line of business in this attractive, hilly landscape.

The District of Heinsberg is marked by economic change. Pit closures and cutbacks in jobs in the once so dominant textiles, leather and chemicals industries have called for a change in economic views. One of today's pillars is the construction industry, with a number of medium-sized building contractors working throughout Germany with several hundred employees, supplemented by a number of small and medium-sized handicraft businesses. Mechanical engineering has also had a traditionally strong stand. And the growing sector of railway technology also have a strong foothold in the District of Heinsberg with the Siemens Test Centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath.